UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE (UAV) IN CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT: A LITERATURE REVIEW, APPLICATIONS AND CHALLENGES

Purpose – The aim of the article is to analyze the current directions of UAV application areas in the management of processes in construction, limitations and development opportunities, considering the fusion between academic publications and practical ones.

Methodology/approach – This research puts forward a bibliographic synthesis to summarize the results of 20 research papers published in 2012-2020 and highlights the growing trend of using UAVs in the construction sector.

Findings – The UAV is widely used in structural condition assessment, occupational health and safety, quantity survey and logistics activities. Cost and time efficiency are the primary benefits for using UAV in construction processes. Multi-rotor is the most common structure of UAV and a multitude of sensors can be attached to the UAV such as digital camera, thermal and infrared sensor. The control of the UAVs can be manual or a pre-programmed flight.

Research limitations/implications – The research limitations are related to the methodological approach which consists of identifying the scientific papers based on keywords in academic databases.

Originality/value – This paper outlines the classification of UAV applications in construction research and pleads the use of applications in construction quality control along the project implementation.