Drones as a Tool – Construction, Building and Infrastructure

35.73 billion dollars is how much the drone analytics market is anticipated to be worth by 2028. Not the drone market, drone analytics alone. Surveying, site management, resource analysis and real-time data are the tools offered by drones that will be driving this massive chunk of the drone market and all of those tools will be critical to improving efficiency and reducing costs across the construction industry. Drones are already hard at work right now in construction sites across the world and more applications for the technology are being found every day.

Let’s start with the ground

35.73 billion dollars is how much the drone analytics market is anticipated to be worth by 2028. Not the drone market, drone analytics alone. Surveying, site management, resource analysis and real-time data are the tools offered by drones that will be driving this massive chunk of the drone market and all of those tools will be critical to improving efficiency and reducing costs across the construction industry. Drones are already hard at work right now in construction sites across the world and more applications for the technology are being found every day.

Let’s start with the ground

Surveying is a critical step in planning any construction project and often a time and cash-intensive step, especially if you want it done right. Drones as an aerial tool have revolutionized the approach to surveying as an industry, providing real-time, in-the-field insights and delivering imagery and 3D data quicker than ever before.

One of the biggest advantages to using drones to collect imagery and other data with drones is the speed at which the data comes in. There’s a variety of systems from real-time photo stitching to server-based post processing, many of which can delivery complicated imagery and information back to base within a single day from the flight with many delivering within hours or instantly. Mapping using drones significantly improves the speed at which you get data and reduces the cost of surveying by letting one pilot cover massive areas with each flight.

Managing a site

Thanks largely to AI-driven automation, drones on construction sites can now assist in site management and monitoring throughout a project. AI can be trained to recognise resources around your site and catalogue the count and location of infrastructure and raw materials around a large construction area, speeding up and improving the accuracy of site management. With a Drone-In-A-Box solution, you can even pre-deploy a drone on site and program it to run multiple missions a day, providing start and end of day data and even a mid-day visual update on the progress being made. Drone-In-A-Box deployments also let you operate remotely with a Remote Operations Centre, meaning you don’t even need to send pilots on-site anymore and the data can come straight back to your corporate headquarters.

Percepto gains first BVLOS remote Operations Flights in Australia

Not all of your drones need to fly

The term Drone doesn’t just apply to things flying overhead, recently Boston Dynamics began showcasing the applications of everyone’s favourite robot dog on the job site. Spot can be used to capture eye-level real-time data and 3D maps of a site and can help you identify safety issues and assist with material management. And the great news is companies like Percepto are already working on integrating Spot into their existing drone management software. As we look toward the future and the add-on hardware for Spot keeps growing, Spot will even be able to help transport loads, like resources or tools around the site. Imagine leaving a tool back at the tool shed and being able to ask your robot dog to go fetch, it sounds like the stuff of science fiction but, the technology is on its way right now integrating a variety of tools for a host of construction applications.

Insurance and Inspection

One of the hardest parts of setting up insurance or deciding what action to take on a claim can be getting an accurate picture of the asset and its state. Especially when you insure things like buildings or infrastructure projects. Drones provide an excellent tool to capture imagery and Lidar information on everything from buildings to bridges, giving you the information you need to make informed decisions in the insurance industry.

Recording your progress

With an automated solution you’ll be able to construct a time-lapse of your latest project without having to worry about the safety issues inherent with bringing a film-crew on site, or the reliability of a human cameraman trying to capture the same image every day. Setting up a daily automatic mission to record the progress of the build will let you reflect on the work completed and give you a powerful marketing tool to secure your next project.

Hazard and Emergency Management

Thanks to AI and image recognition, picking up in hazards and emergencies from the air is becoming a reliable tool to reduce safety issues on a variety of sites. Drones equipped with specialised tools can even be used to be monitor things like temperature hotspots and gas build-up. This data can provide site managers real-time information about potential safety issues before they become incidents with regular drone patrols scanning around construction sites for any potential problem areas.

How to get started

With the variety of hardware and software for automating drone flights and gathering specific data it can be difficult to know what combination of both is going to bring you the information you need about your construction project. Luckily, Hover UAV are experts in the field of finding drone solutions for a variety of clients and are ready to help you find your perfect drone set up. Get in touch with us to start discussing how drones can work for you.