Arniella, Javier E.

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The use of unmanned aerial vehicles as a platform for site inspection, topography and earthwork volume calculations
(2019-12-03) Arniella, Javier E.; Perdomo-Rivera, José L.; College of Engineering; Flores-Malavé, José L.; De la Rosa-Ricciardi, Evi; Department of Civil Engineering; Colón, Silvestre
In recent years, the use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) has become popular in various industries, including construction. Even though the use and capabilities of UAVs is now firmly established, their potential implementation in the various stages of construction has still not been fully explored. The purpose of this research project is to build a custom UAV to serve as a platform for a digital camera, and evaluate and demonstrate its use for aerial inspection, mapping and stockpile volume calculation. In order to demonstrate the use of a UAV for aerial inspection of a site and volume calculation, a custom UAV was built, tested, and workflows developed for the two main tasks, including flight planning, flight execution, post-processing of data, and deliverable production. The study concludes that the use of UAVs as a platform for site inspection and stockpile volume calculation is a quick and cost efficient way to carry out these tasks, without exposing workers to potential site safety hazards.