Multi-mechanism swarm optimization for multi-UAV task assignment and path planning in transmission line inspection under multi-wind field

Along with the growing size of the power system, the inspection and maintenance of power lines and facilities in complicated environments will be put to a greater test. Currently, more and more research are being done on UAV-based transmission line inspection techniques, of which multi-UAV task assignment and path planning are two important aspects. This paper first generates a three-dimensional inspection environment model while considering and measuring the influence of numerous wind fields in the mountain environment. Next, a multi-indicator hybrid cost function that considers wind field influence is defined for the multi-UAV task assignment problem. An improved Bidirectional Ant Colony and discrete Honey Badger Algorithm (BACOHBA) is proposed to solve it. Then, the multi-UAV path planning problem based on the multi-wind field condition is defined, and an improved Honey Badger-Fruit Fly Algorithm (HBAFOA) is proposed to solve it. Finally, simulation experiments are conducted under different algorithms, which prove that the proposed algorithm has better performance in terms of fast-solving ability, solution accuracy, and optimization stability.