Metropolitan Expressway, Metropolitan Expressway Technology, NTT Communications (NTT Com), JDRONE, Aerosense, and KDDI Smart Drone conducted a demonstration experiment on the long bridge of the Metropolitan Expressway, including automatic flight of about 2.8 kilometers round trip using a drone, with the aim of establishing a fast and reliable inspection method in the event of a disaster.

In this demonstration, taking into consideration the occurrence of disasters at night, “demonstration of confirmation of video visibility during night flights” and “demonstration of long-distance flights between ports using multiple drone ports that can automatically take off, land, and charge drones” were conducted, and the usefulness of the inspection method in the event of a disaster using images taken by drones was confirmed.

In the demonstration experiment, Aerosense’s VTOL drone was used to fly and shoot near the expressway at night. In addition, NTT Com, JDRONE, and KDDI Smart Drone used drones that excel at autonomous flight in dark places to fly and photograph areas above the expressway.

NTT Com also conducted a dark inspection flight under an overpass where visual inspection is difficult.

Since the flight distance is limited due to communication and battery issues, KDDI Smart Drone verified that the flight distance could be extended by using multiple drone ports.