Objective  In the energy sector, pipeline inspection and monitoring provide an efficient method for detecting and addressing defects in energy pipeline transportation at an early stage, thereby ensuring the safe operation and sustainable development of pipeline systems. Considering the constraints of traditional pipeline inspection methods concerning accuracy, efficiency, and safety, research into unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) pipeline inspection technology holds significant practical importance and promising development prospects.

Methods  Considering industry standards and the current development status of UAV technology, CiteSpace literature analysis software was utilized to perform a knowledge graph analysis across various dimensions, including publication years, co-occurrences, clustering, and frequencies of key words, as well as timelines, and authors of relevant literature. Building upon this analysis, this study investigated the relationships between research laboratories and scholars in related domains by tracking prominent conferences and journals. Additional research was conducted to uncover the characteristics of UAVs. Consequently, this paper outlines application strategies for UAVs in pipeline inspection and provides predictions and innovative analysis of the potential development trends in UAV pipeline inspection within China.

Results  UAV pipeline inspection represents an emerging application area for UAVs. Since 2015, this domain has increasingly garnered research attention. Several technology firms have integrated UAVs for intelligent inspections in actual oilfields. Nonetheless, current collaboration among scholars remains limited, and existing national and industry standards do not provide definitive specifications on the technical indicators for UAV pipeline inspection.

Conclusion  The UAV pipeline inspection technology constitutes an interdisciplinary field. The advancement of this technology profoundly enhances pipeline inspection processes by enhancing efficiency, cutting costs, and guaranteeing safety. These improvements generate new impetuses for the growth of industries associated with UAVs.