Challenges in Capturing and Processing UAV based Photographic Data From Construction Sites

Construction industry is going through a paradigm shift where remote data collection approaches are replacing manual processes that are presently being followed in construction related activities. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) are being engaged in various construction applications, like real-time supervision, progress evaluation, surveys, mapping, safety evaluations etc. The paper discusses some of the typical challenges related to operations, data acquisition, and post-processing of data collected using UAV when used in civil engineering applications. Issues related to obstructions, reflection, illuminations, lighting condition, blurred image data, inaccuracies in georeferenced image data etc. are discussed and possible solutions suggested based on a field study. A DJI Phantom 4 Pro V2.0 was used in data collection and the solutions for various issues identified from literature were evaluated and discussed based on collected field data. Feasible solutions for the above mentioned problems are also discussed and presented.