Exploratory Study of Potential Applications of Unmanned Aerial Systems for Construction Management Tasks
01 May 2016-Journal of Management in Engineering (American Society of Civil Engineers)-Vol. 32, Iss: 3, pp 05016001-05016001
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present an exploratory case study to identify potential applications of visual assets obtained from UAVs for construction management tasks, including project progress monitoring, job site logistics, evaluating safety conditions, and quality inspections among other secondary management tasks.
Abstract: Despite studies exploring potential applications of unmanned aerial systems (UASs), the particular use and value of visual assets (photographs or video) collected with UASs for construction management tasks is not well understood. This paper presents an exploratory case study to identify potential applications of visual assets obtained from UASs for construction management tasks. The case study involved the development of a visual assets database from UAS-based images and videos collected during UAS flights at jobsites in the United States and Brazil as well as semi-structured interviews with construction project personnel. The results revealed potential applications of UASs mainly for project progress monitoring, job site logistics, evaluating safety conditions, and quality inspections among other secondary management tasks. In addition, an analysis of costs related to the use of UASs was performed. The main contribution of this case study is a better understanding of the use of UASs for construction management tasks and their regulatory and cost implications.
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TL;DR: In this article , the authors present an in-depth qualitative content analysis of 269 papers on the use of robots for the inspection and monitoring of buildings and infrastructure, including commercial and residential buildings, roads, bridges, tunnels, and pipelines.
Abstract: Regular inspection and monitoring of buildings and infrastructure, that is collectively called the built environment in this paper, is critical. The built environment includes commercial and residential buildings, roads, bridges, tunnels, and pipelines. Automation and robotics can aid in reducing errors and increasing the efficiency of inspection tasks. As a result, robotic inspection and monitoring of the built environment has become a significant research topic in recent years. This review paper presents an in-depth qualitative content analysis of 269 papers on the use of robots for the inspection and monitoring of buildings and infrastructure. The review found nine different types of robotic systems, with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) being the most common, followed by unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs). The study also found five different applications of robots in inspection and monitoring, namely, maintenance inspection, construction quality inspection, construction progress monitoring, as-built modeling, and safety inspection. Common research areas investigated by researchers include autonomous navigation, knowledge extraction, motion control systems, sensing, multi-robot collaboration, safety implications, and data transmission. The findings of this study provide insight into the recent research and developments in the field of robotic inspection and monitoring of the built environment and will benefit researchers, and construction and facility managers, in developing and implementing new robotic solutions.
4 citations
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TL;DR: The leader-follower feedback formation control, including the feature that the follower can reach and maintain the formation starting from any initial relative position with respect to the leader, is studied.
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Cites background from "Exploratory Study of Potential Appl..."
...The opportunities for that are in various applications such as forest fire monitoring [1], package delivery [2], [3] construction management and infrastructure monitoring [4], [5], precision agriculture [6], etc....
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01 Jan 2016
TL;DR: This paper aims to evaluate the application of UAS for safety inspection on site, focus on its utility, equipment performance and risks associated with the use of that technology.
Abstract: The potential use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAS) has come to the attention of the construction industry. However, its use still demands investigations for a better understanding of how this technology can be fitted to construction management tasks. This paper aims to evaluate the application of UAS for safety inspection on site, focus on its utility, equipment performance and risks associated with the use of that technology. For this, two case studies were performed in Brazil. Data was collected from flight tests on site for visual assets gathering and regular meetings with project personnel for feedback were held. The safety inspection analysis was based on the visualization of the safety requirements in the visual assets collected. Document analysis and interviews with project personnel and workers were performed for supporting the performance evaluation. As a result, the application of UAV could provide the visualization of 87.2% (Project A) and 58% (Project B) of the safety inspections items selected, providing detailed information for safety monitoring on jobsites. Barriers such as meteorological factors and pilot training influence the technology use for safety inspection. Further studies are under development in order to evaluate the impact of the safety inspection with the support of UAV in a systematic way.
4 citations
References
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TL;DR: A novel control law based on computer vision for quasi-stationary flights above a planar target is presented, which uses the homography matrix computed from the information obtained from the vision system.
427 citations
"Exploratory Study of Potential Appl..." refers background in this paper
...2004), avalanche control (McCormack and Trepanier 2008), aerial assessment of road surface condition (Zhang and Elaksher 2012), bridge inspection (Metni and Hamel 2007; Morgenthal and Hallermann 2014), and safety inspection on jobsites (Irizarry et al....
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Book•
01 Sep 2004
TL;DR: The roots of all Aviation, Cold War, Hot Missions, and Unmanned UAVs Today: A Snapshot future history are explored.
Abstract: Introduction Birth of a Concept The Concept Takes Flight But For One Dissenting Vote Technical Challenge No. 2: Remote Control United Kingdom The Roots of All Aviation Reginald Denny Delbert Fahrney Cold War, Hot Missions Vietnam: The Coming of Age Israel Endeavoring to Endure Unfueled and Unmanned UAVs Today: A SnapshotFuture History Appendix A: Significant Dates in Unmanned Aviation Appendix B: Notable Personalities in Unmanned Aviation Appendix C: Notable Unmanned Aircraft Bibliography
225 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the application of UAVs for visual inspection and damage detection on civil structures is discussed and the properties of such flight systems, the factors influencing their movements and the resulting photo quality is discussed.
Abstract: This paper discusses the application of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) for visual inspection and damage detection on civil structures. The quality of photos and videos taken by using such airborne vehicles is strongly influenced by numerous parameters such as lighting conditions, distance to the object and vehicle motion induced by environmental effects. Whilst such devices feature highly sophisticated sensors and control algorithms, specifically the effects of fluctuating wind speeds and directions affect the vehicle motion. The nature of vehicle movements during photo and video acquisition in turn affect the quality of the data and hence the degree to which damages can be identified. This paper discusses the properties of such flight systems, the factors influencing their movements and the resulting photo quality. Based on the processed data logged by the high precision sensors on the UAV the influences are studied and a method is shown by which the damage assessment quality may be quantified.
219 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this study, a small-scale aerial drone was used as a tool for exploring potential benefits to safety managers within the construction jobsite and recommendations for the required features of an Ideal Safety Inspection Drone were led.
Abstract: SUMMARY: The construction industry lags behind many others in the rate of adoption of cutting edge technologies In the area of safety management this is more so Many advances in information technology could provide great benefits to this important aspect of construction operations Innovative use of these tools could result in safer jobsites This paper discusses initial application of drone technology in the construction industry In this study, a small-scale aerial drone was used as a tool for exploring potential benefits to safety managers within the construction jobsite This drone is an aerial quadricopter that can be piloted remotely using a smart phone, tablet device or a computer Since the drone is equipped with video cameras, it can provide safety managers with fast access to images as well as real time videos from a range of locations around the jobsite An expert analysis (heuristic evaluation) as well as a user participation analysis were performed on said quadricopter to determine the features of an ideal safety inspection drone The heuristic evaluation uncovered some of the user interface problems of the drone interface considering the context of the safety inspection The user participation evaluation was performed following a simulated task of counting the number of hardhats viewed through the display of a mobile device in the controlled environment of the lab Considering the task and the controlled variables, this experimental approach revealed that using the drone together with a large-size interface (eg iPad) would be as accurate as having the safety manager with plain view of the jobsite The results of these two evaluations together with previous experience of the authors in the area of safety inspection and drone technology led to recommendations for the required features of an Ideal Safety Inspection Drone Autonomous navigation, vocal interaction, high-resolution cameras, and collaborative user-interface environment are some examples of those features This innovative application of the aerial drone has the potential to improve construction practices and in this case facilitate jobsite safety inspections
205 citations
"Exploratory Study of Potential Appl..." refers background in this paper
...2004), avalanche control (McCormack and Trepanier 2008), aerial assessment of road surface condition (Zhang and Elaksher 2012), bridge inspection (Metni and Hamel 2007; Morgenthal and Hallermann 2014), and safety inspection on jobsites (Irizarry et al. 2012)....
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06 Mar 2004
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe the vision-based control of a small UAV following a road, using only the vision measurements and onboard inertial sensors, using a control strategy stabilizing the aircraft and following the road.
Abstract: This paper describes the vision-based control of a small autonomous aircraft following a road. The computer vision system detects natural features of the scene and tracks the roadway in order to determine relative yaw and lateral displacement between the aircraft and the road. Using only the vision measurements and onboard inertial sensors, a control strategy stabilizes the aircraft and follows the road. The road detection and aircraft control strategies have been verified by hardware in the loop (HIL) simulations over long stretches (several kilometers) of straight roads and in conditions of up to 5 m/s of prevailing wind. Hardware experiments have also been conducted using a modified radio-controlled aircraft. Successful road following was demonstrated over an airfield runway under variable lighting and wind conditions. The development of vision-based control strategies for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), such as the ones presented here, enables complex autonomous missions in environments where typical navigation sensor like GPS are unavailable.
175 citations