DRONES
The Rise of Drones in the Construction Industry
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rones in the Construction Industry are becoming a common sight. Also known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), they are no longer just a hobbyist tech gadget. Many industries and commercial fields have started utilizing drones seeing the wide extent of information they are capable of providing. Construction industry is now proving to be one of the main adopters of drone technology as it provides a birds-eye view of the construction site, machinery and people. Drones has redefined the way buildings are designed and constructed by improving the design accuracy, quality, implementing personnel safety and simplifying the maintenance of the building. Drones in the Construction Industry are able to assist project managers and supervisors to fulfill their roles much more effectively and also in identifying differences between as-designed plans and as-built plans. Recent technological innovations in drones are now capable of taking thermal photos along with add-ons like GPS. Let’s take a look into some of the key applications of drones during different stages of the building life cycle.
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Building Site Evaluation Before purchasing the land, it is important for landowners to fully understand the terrain and the land distribution. The traditional land surveillance methods required a lot of labor, time and money. These methods are now being replaced by drones since they prove a bird’s eye view of the entire land. With the use of drones, the captured images can help land owners get a better understanding of the land before the investment. Drones eliminate all of the human error involved in the land inspection with much higher accuracy and also save a lot of time required for collecting all the necessary data. The data acquired by the drones can be used by engineers to measure the land dimensions, elevation changes and also help with an estimate of the material volumes. 3D Scans Drones in the Construction Industry can also be used for photogrammetry: creating 3D models by scanning existing structures. This is helpful especially in renovations and retrofitting, since it allows the creating of a detailed model with actual conditions. BIM software can be used for importing
CR | July/August 2020
the model and used as a reference. The data from drones can also be converted into virtual building models which will allow the clients to view the final outcome of renovations and retrofitting before the construction work even begins. This allows clients to also have a better understanding of spaces. Supervision and Progress Checkups One of the most common application of drones in building projects is to use them for inspection throughout the site construction lifespan, and also to check whether the schedule is being followed or not. For supervision, drone help project contractors with the following functions: Getting consistent construction images that can be compared throughout the progress by setting up weekly predetermined flights, and also for supervising construction quality. Monitoring the progress by overlaying the captured images onto the building designs and drawings so project owners can confirm that the work is moving according to the plan. The high-quality images can be compared to the actual building progress to identify www.constructionreviewonline.com
