Monitoring of Historical Structures using Drones

Abstract

The use of drones has been increased in recent years for surveying, facility management and other relevant fields. However, more recently, the technological progress in the design and navigation of low-weight and autonomous drones and UAVs have resulted in their more practical and cost-effective operation in the fields of construction management and monitoring. This study presents a framework for the development of a fully automated smart construction monitoring and reporting system based on real-time data obtained from drones and UAVs. The data in terms of drone images from multiple locations and point clouds (from 3D scanning of construction site) can be used to construct a 3D model using the photogrammetry techniques. This so-called "drone model"can be compared to BIM model at various construction stages to monitor the construction progress. Beside construction scheduling and costing, this comparison can be expanded to include real-time recording, reporting, billing, verification and planning. The system not only provides convenient and smart ways of site supervision and management but also results in better monitoring operations which are practically difficult by manual methods. The usability of this non-destructive method of damage detection is shown with practical example.