Assessment of Low-Cost Unmanned Aerial Systems for Engineering Surveys

Unmanned Aerial Systems are increasingly becoming popular to carry out purposes which were previously done manually or through sophisticated machines. From the extent of non-technical works like video recording to photogrammetric analysis, they have been deployed for variety of applications. Yet, the usage of UAS remains largely unexplored for engineering surveys, the gap which this research tries to fulfill. Engineering surveys have specific requirements with regard to precision, accuracy and efficiency. Assessment of a low-cost UAV i.e. DJI Mavic Air is being done on 3 parameters vis-a-vis (i) accuracy of distance and area measurements in comparison to traditional surveying instruments, (ii) time required to carry out such surveys and (iii) associated costs. Also, comparison of free trials of software such as Pix4D Mapper and Agisoft Metashape has been done to inform readers who wish to use low-cost UAS for engineering surveys. Lastly the applications of the approach are discussed to the extent to which low-cost UAS are reliable enough for conducting surveys in engineering projects.