Advancing Drones in Construction

Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), or drones, are becoming more common in the construction industry as a key tool to complete complex building and infrastructure projects. As technology improves, the barriers to adoption are reduced, creating a huge opportunity for the industry to improve the construction process and support the ongoing digital transformation. Drones boost productivity by enabling construction teams to rapidly and easily survey job sites, track progress, and spot potential problems. This information can be used to make real-time decisions, avoiding delays and lowering the risk of errors. Recognizing drones as a useful tool, EllisDon has invested in growing its drone capabilities to fully leverage this technology on all our major projects from planning to execution. Currently, across Canada with 30 active drones, 50 advanced certified drone pilots, drones are now being flown every day on 20+ active construction sites for a variety of purposes. The most frequent application is photo and video progress monitoring, but additional reality capture methods are proving to generate more value. Drones are great tools for collecting data. They can be fitted with cameras, sensors, and other devices that capture high-quality images, video footage, and environmental data. This information can be used to create 3D models, maps, and other visualizations that help construction teams better understand a job site and plan their work accordingly. By combining survey grade drones and advanced software applications, this enables a process called photogrammetry, where high resolution photos are merged to create an orthomosaic image as well as 3D models of surfaces, structures, and buildings. This allows our team to digitize a whole construction site and all the surrounding buildings, ground conditions and features. This digital version of the construction site is a valuable output that can be connected to BIM software and shared with the team to view, analyze, and verify the project throughout construction. Overall, the increasing use of drones in construction is transforming the industry, making it safer, more efficient, and more data-driven. As technology continues to evolve, we can expect drones to play an even bigger role in the future of construction.