Intelligent detection method with 3D ranging for external force damage monitoring of power transmission lines

The rapid development of smart grid requires more and more reliable power supply. The external force damage to transmission lines can significantly impact the safety and stability of the power grid, potentially causing electric shock accidents. Existing methods for monitoring external force damage in transmission corridors lack the ability to provide effective warnings based on the real-time distance between potential hazards and power lines. Additionally, limited computational power and storage capacity at edge terminals restrict the efficient deployment of high-precision (high complexity) visual algorithms. This study presents, for the first time, a lightweight intelligent detection method integrating detection and three-dimensional (3D) ranging. A regression loss optimized for small objects is introduced to compensate for the shortcomings of lightweight networks in detection accuracy. Simultaneously, based on the influence of convolutions in various modules of the baseline model on performance, lightweight improvements are made to the detector architecture using Omni-Dimensional Dynamic Convolution and Distribution Shifting Convolution. Finally, a 3D ranging module is integrated into the detector, involving operations such as 2D3D information matching and back-projection transformation. This method innovatively achieves automated ranging and hierarchical warning. Its effectiveness is validated in transmission corridor scenarios under various weather conditions and surveillance video. The results demonstrate that our method outperforms other algorithms in hazard detection accuracy and lightweight performance. Moreover, the distance prediction error rate is below 1.6%. The hierarchical warning solutions can be applied to more scenarios. •Propose an end-to-end vision detection model with 3D ranging for monitoring high-voltage transmission lines.•A regression loss function applied for small object detection is designed.•Enhance model adaptability and reduce calculations with Omni-Dimensional dynamic convolution.•Improve convolution efficiency and speed with distributed shift convolutions, reducing computational pressure.•A plug-and-play 3D ranging module is designed using a 2D3D vision matching algorithm.