Project Overview

The Gansu Plateau power grid infrastructure project is located in a complex mountainous environment where conventional transportation and construction methods can be difficult to implement.

Rugged terrain and limited road access created challenges for transporting tower materials and construction equipment to remote sites. Building new access roads would also increase construction time and could cause unnecessary disturbance to the surrounding vegetation.

To address these challenges, the project introduced drones as an aerial transportation and construction support solution.

The project adopted a “assemble at the foot of the mountain, deliver by air, and construct on the mountain” operating model. Drones were used to continuously transport materials, deploy guide ropes, and support real-time fault detection.

This approach created a more flexible connection between ground logistics and mountain construction while supporting a lower-impact construction model with zero road construction and zero vegetation destruction.

The Challenge

Complex Plateau Terrain

The project area is located in a mountainous plateau environment with complex terrain and difficult access conditions. Traditional ground transportation can become inefficient when construction sites are located far from existing roads.

Difficult Material Transportation

Transmission tower construction requires the transportation of structural materials and other equipment to remote tower foundations. Moving these materials entirely by ground can require significant time and manpower.

Environmental Impact of Road Construction

Building temporary access roads to reach remote construction sites can increase project costs and construction time while disturbing surrounding vegetation. For environmentally sensitive areas, reducing the need for new road construction is an important consideration.

Difficult Guide Rope Deployment

Transmission line construction requires guide ropes to be deployed across complex terrain. Traditional manual deployment can be labor-intensive and difficult when crossing mountains, valleys, and other obstacles.

Need for Faster Defect Detection

Construction and infrastructure projects also require timely identification of potential faults or abnormalities. Conventional inspection methods can make it difficult to quickly monitor remote construction areas.

The Drone-Based Construction Solution

To overcome these challenges, the project introduced drones as a multi-purpose aerial construction support platform.

The solution combined:

• Aerial material transportation
• Continuous logistics support
• Precision guide rope deployment
• High-definition visual inspection
• Real-time fault detection
• Ground-air collaborative operations

The core operating model was:

Assembly at the Foot of the Mountain
↓
Aerial Delivery
↓
Construction on the Mountain

Materials could be assembled at accessible locations near the foot of the mountain and then transported by drone to remote construction sites.

This reduced the need to build roads solely for material transportation and helped minimize disturbance to surrounding vegetation.

How the Drone Construction Model Works

1. Assemble Materials at the Foot of the Mountain

Tower materials and construction supplies are assembled at accessible staging areas near the foot of the mountain. This avoids the need to transport all materials over difficult mountain routes by conventional vehicles.

2. Transport Materials by Air

Drones transport required materials from the staging area directly to designated mountain construction locations. The aerial transportation model provides a more direct logistics connection between the material staging area and remote construction site.

3. Deploy Guide Ropes

Drones are used to precisely deploy guide ropes across complex terrain.

This helps support subsequent transmission line construction activities while reducing the amount of manual work required for rope deployment.

4. Support Mountain Construction

Once materials arrive at the construction site, workers can carry out assembly and construction operations without relying on newly constructed access roads.

This creates an efficient ground-air collaborative construction workflow.

5. Perform Real-Time Inspection

High-definition equipment mounted on the drones captures visual information from the construction area. The collected images can be used to identify potential faults and abnormalities in real time, supporting faster inspection and response.

Key Technologies

Aerial Material Transportation

Drone transportation provides an alternative to conventional ground logistics for remote mountain construction sites. This is particularly useful where existing roads are limited or difficult to extend.

Precision Guide Rope Deployment

Drones can carry and deploy guide ropes across complex terrain, helping support transmission line construction operations.

High-Definition Inspection

Onboard high-definition equipment provides detailed visual information from remote construction areas.

Real-Time Fault Detection

The collected visual information can be used to identify potential faults and abnormalities more efficiently.

Ground-Air Collaborative Construction

The project combines ground-based assembly and construction with aerial transportation and inspection, creating an integrated construction workflow.

Project Results

The drone-based construction model delivered significant improvements in transportation and inspection efficiency.

4× Higher Material Transportation Efficiency

The transportation efficiency for materials required for a single tower base increased by approximately 4 times. This significantly improved the speed at which construction materials could be delivered to remote mountain sites.

5× Higher Defect Detection Efficiency

The use of high-definition drone inspection increased defect detection efficiency by approximately 5 times, enabling potential issues to be identified more quickly.

Zero New Road Construction

The aerial transportation model eliminated the need to construct new access roads specifically for the project.

Zero Vegetation Destruction

By reducing dependence on new road construction, the project achieved its goal of zero vegetation destruction associated with access-road development.