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The Application Of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

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Nowadays, new technology is rapidly shaping the way how construction projects are delivered. The application of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is one of these examples. Unlike conventional aerial measurement by aircraft, it doesn’t require expensive aeronautical facility and trivial procedure. Comparing to other surveying approaches like using the GPS navigation, the UAV systems can outperform in many large-scale projects by saving cost and time. There many explorations to potential applications of UAVs - budget and schedule control, construction innovation, and safety practices. However, in the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations and many state regulations often prevent or limit the wide use of UAVs. In …show more content…

To fulfill that goal, the booming technology like point cloud technology can be utilized with the UAVs. In construction aspect, the point cloud data is a set of coordinates produced by 3D scanning process which executed by the UAVs. By software like Geomagic Studio, the point cloud data for the job site can be converted into 3D topographic, or the sections inside the building can be transformed into 3D models. By the year 2018, the domestic UAV industry is expected to grow to be a $13.6 billion market (Hanna, 2014). Due to the small payload of the UAVs and the movement attributions in the flight, the most of unmanned aerial vehicles utilized in the construction site cannot be equipped with professional cameras. However, the data collected by UAVs still meets the accuracy requirements for the construction. Comparing to other surveying options like using measure station or GPS equipment, the data collected by UAV systems can still outperform the data measured by traditional equipment and techniques in cost and time. Therefore, with proper construction strategy, the UAV systems with point cloud can be a promising tool for construction. It is important for construction managers to consider value engineering which means balancing three elements: quality, cost, and schedule in the construction process. Basically, applying UAV system with point cloud technology can improve the overall construction efficiency through three aspects: improving the

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