10 TOP JOBS
According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), 2.85 million small drones could fill the sky by 2022, and nearly a half million will be used for commercial purposes. The drone services market size is expected to grow to $63.6 billion by 2025! The drone industry continues to build momentum and shows no signs of slowing down. That all boils down to one thing: operators will be needed to fly or program all of those drones! Read on to learn more about the top applications for commercial drones.
CONSTRUCTION
According to “Construction Dive,” a website that offers insight into the news and trends shaping the construction and building industry, “Drones provide construction teams with an overhead view of jobsites, materials, machinery and people. Contractors are using the autonomous flying machines to record images and videos that help optimize everything from grading plans and operations to identifying differences between as-designed and as-built site plans. Their usefulness can be enhanced with thermal cameras and other add-ons like mapping tools and GPS units.
“Drones have become the go-to tool for construction firms to track, map, survey, inspect, and manage worksites more efficiently and safely,” says Dan Burton, founder of DroneBase, a drone pilot network that provides support for construction companies. “Through aerial imagery and data, builders can map projects, report progress updates and gain insights through advanced analytics to make better, faster and more reliable decisions.”
Construction managers can use drones with thermal sensors and ground control points (GCPs) to more quickly identify and resolve issues like water leaks and concrete cracks. UAVs are also useful tools for accident prevention. Overhead images not only show possible security issues but also machinery positions, indicating where projects may be congested or where hazards may exist.
Denver-based PCL Construction has used drones for more than three years on nearly all of its major projects to improve jobsite communication, perform volumetric analysis, overlay design documents with installed work for visual verification, verify grades and provide historical documentation.
“The old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words has never been more true,” Bill Bennington, PCL’s national quality manager, told Construction Dive.
New England contractor Windover Construction uses drones to establish a 3D model of jobsites, which managers import into the company’s Building Information Modeling workflow.
Drone provider Skycatch is recording all construction activity on Microsoft’s Redmond campus renovation project, feeding data into
