Autonomous vehicles for cleaning solar panels

Abstract

The impact of soiling or dust is a major challenge in the use of photovoltaic (PV) panels in numerous regions of the world. In this paper we present a technology platform that can be used to deploy autonomous vehicles for cleaning solar panels. A PV power station is modeled using the Virtual Robot Experimentation Platform and Robot Operating System (ROS) is used for the algorithms to control the vehicle. Technical information with regards to mapping, localization, path planning, and obstacle avoidance is presented.