- Another way we're seeing many companies
begin to capture data is with drones
or unmanned aerial vehicles.
These easily piloted flying drones
can be equipped with cameras that can easily capture
the existing conditions and progress
of even the largest project site.
I have one client that does a drone flyover every other day
to capture the progress of construction
as the structural frame of the building is being erected.
We've been able to go back and use those photos
to verify installation of items embedded in the concrete
after the concrete was placed.
And that simple use of drones for image capture
really just begins to scratch the surface
of data capture and processing.
Josh Marriott has spent the last several years
managing drone programs for a general contractor
and has some great examples of additional things
we can do with them.
And additional ways we can process that data.
Including the use of artificial intelligence or AI.
- With utilities with specifically utility-grade solar,
drones are saving hundreds of thousands
of dollars every year.
The equipment's a lot more expensive
than the stuff that we would use
on a typical construction site,
but with a drone equipped with a thermal sensor,
you're able to see what panels are working and what's not.
Which ones are not working.
Where you can't see this with your naked eye,
the only way to test or find where there's issues
is to send electricians out in the field,
which can be dangerous
because as soon as you connect a solar module,
it's producing electricity, right?
So there's a safety factor in there by you're using machines
to basically do what a person would normally do.
We're able to fly the site and a drone can accomplish
what 20, 30 electricians will take a week to do.
And you can do it in a day with a drone,
with a thermal sensor attached.
Identify all the problem areas.
Again, take that data, upload it to, you know,
there's multiple different softwares out there,
but you're able to upload that data.
And the AI will basically produce a map of that site,
showing you where all the problem areas are,
where all the issues are, where all the modules or strings
or even larger problems may exist.
I think in the safety arena of construction
there's a lot of newer technology
that is able to help with that.
Drones, UAVs, being one of those.
Being able to identify issues or hazards in advance,
creating orthomosaic maps of the site
daily, weekly, or even monthly
that can be used to communicate with the project teams
where hazards may lie.
Be able to have an actual illustration
or something that the personnel on site
can see the actual status of the project up-to-date
and be able to identify where there may be issues,
as well as some of the AI.
They're adding AI to cranes, they're adding AIs
again to the drone process.
Having a tethered drone basically hover over the site
and constantly capture imagery all day long
with the AI component incorporated into that.
If there is a hazard, if there is a chemical spill,
if there's a worker that's not wearing proper PPE,
AI can be trained to see that.
There are multiple firms that are creating that type of AI.
And the more data they collect on more projects,
the better that AI is getting.
You're able to basically compare maps or orthomosaic imagery
to one another and see the differences
and quantify the differences.
And a lot of this has been automated
so that you can fly a project one week,
process that data, fly it the next week
and see the delta between the two.
Or even against design.
You're able to fly a site, get an orthomosaic map,
turn that into a three-dimensional model,
upload your design documents,
your design files three-dimensional design,
and tell how far from complete you are,
how far from the starting point you are,
where you're at throughout the process,
and be able to just quantify materials on site.
- Taking data capture to the ultimate level.
The discussion would not be complete
without mentioning laser scanning.
Laser scanning equipment is expensive.
But it can capture all kinds of information
on a construction site.
I mentioned earlier using it during the construction
of a hospital patient tower to capture that
as built information.
With relatively simple and fast setup,
the contractor was able to rapidly scan
an entire floor of the building
and did so several times during the construction process.
The result was the creation of what we call a point cloud,
which somewhat resembles a photo.
And depending on the equipment being used,
can actually contain an embedded 360 degree image
of the area being scanned as well.
But it's also capturing millions of data points
in a matter of minutes to generate that point cloud.
Those millions of points are all addressable.
Meaning instead of just a photo image,
I have essentially created a 3D model
of the existing conditions.
I can measure between the objects in the scan,
just like I can in a model,
I can also import this point cloud
into the building information modeling software
and compare it to the design model
or even update the model to reflect what's actually built.
That is probably the ultimate
in field condition data capture.