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Imaging network design to improve the automated construction progress monitoring process

Hadi Mahami (Department of Construction Project Management – Art University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran)
Farnad Nasirzadeh (School of Architecture and Built Environment, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia)
Ali Hosseininaveh Ahmadabadian (Department of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Faculty of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering, K.N.Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran)
Farid Esmaeili (Department of Surveying Engineering, Faculty of Technical and Engineering, Zanjan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Zanjan, Iran)
Saeid Nahavandi (Institute for Intelligent Systems Research and Innovation (IISRI), Deakin University, Geelong, Australia)

Construction Innovation

ISSN: 1471-4175

Article publication date: 2 May 2019

Issue publication date: 6 June 2019

415

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to propose an automatic imaging network design to improve the efficiency and accuracy of automated construction progress monitoring. The proposed method will address two shortcomings of the previous studies, including the large number of captured images required and the incompleteness and inaccuracy of generated as-built models.

Design/methodology/approach

Using the proposed method, the number of required images is minimized in two stages. In the first stage, the manual photogrammetric network design is used to decrease the number of camera stations considering proper constraints. Then the image acquisition is done and the captured images are used to generate 3D points cloud model. In the second stage, a new software for automatic imaging network design is developed and used to cluster and select the optimal images automatically, using the existing dense points cloud model generated before, and the final optimum camera stations are determined. Therefore, the automated progress monitoring can be done by imaging at the selected camera stations to produce periodic progress reports.

Findings

The achieved results show that using the proposed manual and automatic imaging network design methods, the number of required images is decreased by 65 and 75 per cent, respectively. Moreover, the accuracy and completeness of points cloud reconstruction is improved and the quantity of performed work is determined with the accuracy, which is close to 100 per cent.

Practical implications

It is believed that the proposed method may present a novel and robust tool for automated progress monitoring using unmanned aerial vehicles and based on photogrammetry and computer vision techniques. Using the proposed method, the number of required images is minimized, and the accuracy and completeness of points cloud reconstruction is improved.

Originality/value

To generate the points cloud reconstruction based on close-range photogrammetry principles, more than hundreds of images must be captured and processed, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive. There has been no previous study to reduce the large number of required captured images. Moreover, lack of images in some areas leads to an incomplete or inaccurate model. This research resolves the mentioned shortcomings.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Deakin University [Multidisciplinary Research Funding, grant number 0505 D1847] and the Institute for Intelligent Systems Research and Innovation.

Citation

Mahami, H., Nasirzadeh, F., Hosseininaveh Ahmadabadian, A., Esmaeili, F. and Nahavandi, S. (2019), "Imaging network design to improve the automated construction progress monitoring process", Construction Innovation, Vol. 19 No. 3, pp. 386-404. https://doi.org/10.1108/CI-07-2018-0059

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited

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