Introduction of 'Underwater Drone' for Inspection of Cheonggyecheon Underground Water Supply Pipeline

Seoul Facilities Corporation announced on the 12th that it will strengthen scientific and systematic safety management by introducing underwater drones for the precision safety inspection of maintenance water pipelines installed underground in Cheonggyecheon.

Recently, the corporation conducted a pilot application of an underwater drone equipped with measurement devices such as GPS and high-performance cameras for the precision safety inspection of a 250m section under the aging Jungnangcheon among the 16.85km-long maintenance water pipelines. Using the underwater drone, the inside of the transverse pipeline was clearly inspected, and no major defects such as leaks were found. The results of this investigation will be referenced for maintenance work, and the expansion of underwater drone use for Cheonggyecheon pipeline inspections will be considered in the future.

The underwater drone used for the precision safety inspection of Cheonggyecheon can operate underwater at a speed of 7.2 km/h for up to 8 hours and allows real-time video information monitoring, enabling fast and accurate assessment over a wide area.

Young-Kyung Han, Director of Seoul Facilities Corporation, said, “This underwater drone was developed by expanding the drone inspection technology used for Han River bridges to underground water pipelines underwater,” adding, “We will continue to contribute to creating an attractive and safe special city through scientific and systematic safety management using advanced technology.”