Autonomous MAV-based Indoor Chimney Inspection with 3D Laser Localization and Textured Surface Reconstruction

Inspection of industrial chimneys and smoke pipes induces high costs due to production downtimes and imposes risks to the health of human workers due to high temperatures and toxic gases. We aim at speeding up and automating this process with multicopter micro aerial vehicles. To acquire high quality sensor data, flying close to the walls of the chimney is inevitable, imposing high demands on good localization and fast and reliable control. In this paper, we present an integrated chimney inspection system based on a small lightweight flying platform, well-suited for maneuvering in narrow space. For navigation and obstacle avoidance, it is equipped with a multimodal sensor setup including a lightweight rotating 3D laser scanner, stereo cameras for visual odometry and high-resolution surface inspection. We tested our system in a decommissioned industrial chimney at the Zollverein UNESCO world heritage site and present results from autonomous flights and reconstructions of the chimney surface.