Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) have gained significant traction for their
application in infrastructure inspections. However, considering the enormous
scale and complex nature of infrastructure, automation is essential for
improving the efficiency and quality of inspection operations. One of the core
problems in this regard is electing an optimal automated flight path that can
achieve the mission objectives while minimizing flight time. This paper
presents an effective formulation for the path planning problem in the context
of structural inspections. Coverage is guaranteed as a constraint to ensure
damage detectability and path length is minimized as an objective, thus
maximizing efficiency while ensuring inspection quality. A two-stage algorithm
is then devised to solve the path planning problem, composed of a genetic
algorithm for determining the positions of viewpoints and a greedy algorithm
for calculating the poses. A comprehensive sensitivity analysis is conducted to
demonstrate the proposed algorithm's effectiveness and range of applicability.
Applied examples of the algorithm, including partial space inspection with
no-fly zones and focused inspection, are also presented, demonstrating the
flexibility of the proposed method to meet real-world structural inspection
requirements. In conclusion, the results of this study highlight the
feasibility of the proposed approach and establish the groundwork for
incorporating automation into UAS-based structural inspection mission planning.

该研究探讨了无人机系统在基础设施检查中的应用，提出了一种有效的路径规划问题解决方案，重点解决了自动化飞行路径选择、损伤检测和效率优化等问题，进一步证明了自动化在无人机系统的结构检查任务规划中的可行性。