Drones. They’re not just for military campaigns anymore. Since 2015, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has exploded in terms of civilian and (non-military) industrial applications. While Gartner suggests that personal drone use is expected to reach 4.6 million units by 2020, Goldman Sachs sees military and civilian drone use becoming a $100 billion market by the same year.
A drone is deployed using 3D Robotics’ Site Scan software. (Image courtesy of 3D Robotics.)
The overwhelming majority ($70 billion) of UAVs will still be used for making war, with consumer usage capturing another $17 billion, and the rest taken by industrial applications. Of that $17 billion, construction will represent the lion’s share with $11.2 billion. Anyone who has been following new technological developments in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) space knows that, yes, drones are becoming a big deal.
Why is that? To learn the answer, we spoke to a number of companies in the AEC industry to learn how this new crop of low-cost, high-tech UAVs is impacting the way we build buildings.
The Emergence of Civilian Drones
In 1898, Nikola Tesla demonstrated the first example of radio control (R/C), leading to the development of R/C boats and aircraft. The first fully functional R/C airplane is credited to Walter and William Good in 1937.
Though UAVs have been used as unmanned attack vehicles since the 19th century, they were widely used for military…