Possibility the use of UAV platform for building’s crack length measurement

Abstract

This study uses Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) as a platform to inspect and monitor a building. It focuses on the inspection of defects in buildings, especially cracks. The aim of this study is to investigate cracks on a building by using UAV photogrammetry. The building was used as an object for this study because there are demands from the building maintenance team to assess cracks on the building in an effective way, where it can help to provide reliable crack information. The selected building for this study was an old apartment building with cracks, making it appropriate for this study. There were several steps and procedure used to capture the image of cracks on the building. From the image captured by using UAV, measurement of the cracks can be identified by using a software. There were also different approaches for the output. First is the 3D model of the building and second is the measurement of cracks. The 3D model of the building was created by using Agisoft Photoscan software for the purpose of getting the overview of building dimension. The measurement of cracks was processed by using PhotoModeler software. The accuracy achieved for this study was ±0.8cm. The result showed that UAV photogrammetry can help the current surveying work, especially on building maintenance. Besides, it can capture the crack’s images from certain altitude. The authors used UAV for smart building monitoring assessment, which was less considered in the past.