Potential Applications of UAV along the Construction's Value Chain

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is foreseen as a key element in the improvements of future construction's productivity. Currently, very few solutions allow the integration of as-built information into the model. This research explores the potential of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) in linking BIM to the real world to improve the productivity. This paper presents a technical review of the main challenges in addressing the need mentioned above. Also, it presents potential use cases. The study concludes that two main areas are to be analysed in greater depth (1) autonomous indoor flight for a UAV and (2) the smart integration of collected data into the existing BIM software. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.