Tethered Multi-UAV Inspection

Untethered UAVs are limited by battery life once an inspection job runs long, which is a common constraint inside pipes, tunnels, and box culverts. Tethering addresses the power problem, but a single tethered aircraft still has limited coverage on its own.

The current research direction is a small network of tethered UAVs that share power and data delivery over a common cable, allowing multiple aircraft to operate together for sustained, coordinated inspection of confined underground and enclosed infrastructure.