UAV-based Visual Remote Sensing for Automated Building Inspection

TL;DR

This paper presents a UAV-based system combined with computer vision to automate building inspections for seismic vulnerability assessment, reducing manual effort and improving accuracy in parameter estimation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel methodology integrating UAV imagery and software tools to estimate structural parameters relevant to earthquake damage assessment.

Findings

High accuracy in estimating building parameters verified by field measurements.

Effective automation reduces inspection time and manpower.

Open-source code available for implementation and further research.

Abstract

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) based remote sensing system incorporated with computer vision has demonstrated potential for assisting building construction and in disaster management like damage assessment during earthquakes. The vulnerability of a building to earthquake can be assessed through inspection that takes into account the expected damage progression of the associated component and the component's contribution to structural system performance. Most of these inspections are done manually, leading to high utilization of manpower, time, and cost. This paper proposes a methodology to automate these inspections through UAV-based image data collection and a software library for post-processing that helps in estimating the seismic structural parameters. The key parameters considered here are the distances between adjacent buildings, building plan-shape, building plan area, objects on the rooftop and rooftop layout. The accuracy of the proposed methodology in estimating the above-mentioned parameters is verified through field measurements taken using a distance measuring sensor and also from the data obtained through Google Earth. Additional details and code can be accessed from https://uvrsabi.github.io/ .