Ten construction applications for unmanned aerial vehicles

Let’s get the basic ones out of the way first shall we. At the very heart of unmanned aerial vehicles is the ability to place a sensor – camera or otherwise - in a three dimensional space with relative ease. Aerial and ground based images and video can be combined to create stunning, high impact footage. This not only looks good, it also conveys a lot of information about the property, its size and its surroundings.

Promotional and marketing material

Routine progress monitoringThroughout a development’s construction phase (and even before) agreed flight paths over and around the site can be made to provide almost real time visual progress reporting for developers, stakeholders and even the people on site as an engaging record of how the project is going.We recommend either monthly or fortnightly visits with a number of ad-hoc visits throughout the development to capture key milestones.Reports are typically created within 48 hours.

3D modellingUsing photogrammetry and GPS ground control points, accurate 3D models of a surfaces or structures can be created and exported as CAD files. These have a number of design and planning applications as terrain or structural models do not have to be created from measurements or from scratch.Existing CAD files of a finished structure can be imported into the terrain model to provide a simple and effective visual representation of the finished project for planning, pitching and consultation.

Inspection and surveyUnmanned aerial vehicles are ideal for gathering data from hard to reach places. In some cases this may be as a cost effective alternative to scaffolding or a cherry picker, though in the case of heritage sites, drones are a less intrusive means of inspection and less likely to incur damage to ground and structures.Data gathered can then be processed into an inspection report or using the geo-tagged images and video imported into third party software to create long-term monitoring.

Planning and consultation

Pictures say a thousand words. When consulting with local residents or planning agencies, being able to convey a proposed development in the context of its environment is hugely beneficial. Up to date and informative visual material can also be produced to evidence key commitments to local authorities or planning agencies such as parks, roads, greenspaces or tree protection orders.

Line of sight visualization

Want to know what the view will look like from the top floor of your new development? Drones are a fast and cost effective means to capture this.The same principle can be applied for signaling or communications equipment when establishing what height a mast or receiver must be to transmit an unobstructed signal to another point.

Volumetric measurementUsing accurate aerial photogrammetry techniques, large areas (2D and 3D) can be measured to within CM accuracy. This can be accomplished quickly, cost effectively and with minimal disruption to the day to day workings of the site

360 VR material

Virtual reality devices such as Google Cardboard are cheap and readily available. By capturing 360 degree imagery by drone and viewing the outputs in such devices provides an immersive and useful representation of a site from an elevated point of view. This is not only effective in understanding the location of a site in context with its environment, it is also hosted online meaning it is easily sharable.

Aerial imaging can be used to record how tools, machinery, temporary structures and assets are stored and maintained in the context of their environment. This can support health and safety and insurance commitments as well as providing an audit trail for compliance purposes.

H&S auditing and recording

Thermal imagingIn recent years, thermal imaging sensors have become much more compact and feature state of the art radiometric measuring capabilities. These units can gather high resolution (640x480) thermal imaging data at ±2% accuracy. The benefit of mounting to an aerial platform is that it can view subjects at angles either previously unachievable or via a costly and time consuming cherry picker. Thermal imaging data can also be gathered quickly and the outputs viewed live on the ground via a monitor.