The construction revolution - Building a dream with the help of drones

The impact (good and bad) of drones in society is no longer in question. But what will it take for drones to impact a traditionally outdated, low-profit-margin civil works industry through the use of technology? The solution lies in a low-cost approach.

One could say it all started when a bunch of scientists realized they could do a far better job in measuring objects accurately and at a distance rather then an individual putting himself in harm's way and using expensive/primitive equipment for the same task. We're talking about photogrammetry.

In a nutshell (or should I say according to Wikipedia),

Photogrammetry is the science of making measurements from photographs, especially for recovering the exact positions of surface points.

In more simplistic terms, provided you have some form of frame of reference (like a ruler) you can determine the physical properties of objects and their exact location to the accuracy of the remote sensing equipment used (a 4K-size image taken with a GoPro Hero4 wide angle shot, from the 40th floor of a building, can have an error of less than 10cm). In football terms, you'll be able to determine the position of a player within the area of two soccer fields with the accuracy of half the size of his boots! Talk about seeing the big picture!

Managing the big picture is at the core of the construction and civil works industry. The countless activities across large areas, which can often be 100's of kilometers like the Kunshan Grand Bridge, needs to arrive at the 'big picture' as originally planned from its originators. Unfortunately, like most construction projects, arriving at the finished product is often marred with time-consuming rework, badly managed inventory, excessive overtime costs of workers and unsafe working conditions.

In football terms, you'll be able to determine the position of a player within the area of two soccer fields with the accuracy of half the size of his boots!

In spite of all this, over the last few years, construction technology has been on a steady rise, according to a McKinsey report [1]. There have been large improvements through the adoption of digitized activities [2] which has enabled companies to minimize waste, boost productivity and eliminate geographical restraints. However, fear of the unknown and the concern regarding return on the investment are two of the tough hurdles technology has to surmount. In in the same report, there's overwhelming evidence that globally, labor-productivity growth in construction has averaged only 1 percent a year over the past two decades, compared with growth of 2.8 percent for the total world economy and 3.6 percent in the case of manufacturing.

The labor-productivity growth in construction has averaged only 1 percent a year over the past two decades, compared with growth of 2.8 percent for the total world economy.

One piece of technology that has shown to be cost-effective and has an easier adoption to daily operations is the use of unmanned systems, otherwise known as drones. Given the rapid increase in research and development, the return of investment on the bottom line is felt almost immediately after the first flight, especially during the planning phase [3]. Drones are used by site managers, surveyors, superintendents, and BIM coordinators to jumpstart workflows and eliminate friction (as shown in the picture below). Smartphones and cloud-based apps are also helping transform workforce silos by facilitating better collaboration, safety, and efficiency between contractors.

Now the gold mine in the construction technology is when you combine drone high-resolution images and migrate from 2D georeferenced images (photogrammetry described above) to 3D modeling of objects. This is otherwise known as a digital surface model (DSM). By spending less than an hour each week mapping a job site (by taking GPS referenced images), you gain access to an unprecedented amount of knowledge about nearly every aspect of a project at the fraction of the cost.  The site manager is now to perform previously impossible activities such as real-time site monitoring to mission-critical decision-making on his mobile app. The potential of drones, through the use of low-cost hardware and high-tech software, has only scratched the surface is the construction sector.

By spending less than an hour each week mapping a job site (by taking GPS referenced images), you gain access to an unprecedented amount of knowledge. about nearly every aspect of a project at the fraction of the cost.

The evidence on the impact of drones using 3D modeling in civil and construction activities in the research community has been evident for the past decade. 3D Modeling for images taken of road monitoring [3], building inspection [4] and disaster areas [5]. The analytics of visual data through image processing, computer vision, and geometrical processing techniques have improved over the last few years. Companies such as DroneDeply, Pix4D, and others have repeatedly demonstrated the power of using sophisticated software in the right way.

It's all about being fit and ready for any job. Now is the time to make sure your company is among the fittest in the industry. Here at Uav4africa, we pride ourselves in designing the best drones technologies for the job with a specific focus on low-cost, reliability and fit-for-purpose unmatched by any other drone manufacturer.

Contact us for a free assessment and project plan for your site.


Paulin Kantue
Co-Founder and Head of Research and Development
kantuep@uav4africa.co.za

References:

1. Barbosa et al. Reinventing construction through a productivity revolution, McKinsey&Company Capital Projects & Infrastructure, 2017
2. Biggs J., How Construction Companies Can Profit from Digital Transformation, Procore Jobsite, 2018
3. Developing an unpaved road assessment system for practical deployment with high-resolution optical data collection using a helicopter UAV,  International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems, 2013
4. Ham et al. Visual monitoring of civil infrastructure systems via camera-equipped Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs): a review of related works, 2016
5. Data Collection System for a Rapid Recovery Work: Using a Digital Photogrammetry and a Small UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle), 2014