Abstract: Unmanned aerial vehicle（UAV） inspection has the advantages of multiple-view and three-dimensional,and has become an important method for substation inspection. In order to test the effectiveness of inspection scheme and improve the safety of autonomous inspection,the design and construction of UAV autonomous inspection simulation system for substations is conducted. The system mainly includes navigation simulation module based on ROS,UAV control simulation module based on PX4,physical simulation module based on gazebo and communication module between simulation modules. By using the constructed simulation system,the simulation tests on mission logic,flight route,control method can be conducted before the real flights so as to reduce the risks of real inspect applications. The experimental results show that the simulation system can test the related technology on UAV autonomous inspection,e. g.,autonomous navigation and flight control. The simulation system can provide technical support for the practical inspection application of substation UAVs.