Possibilities of unmanned aerial vehicles for bridge inspection and monitoring

Abstract

The aging and deterioration of bridges is becoming an increasing burden for transportation management systems as it requires increasing investments for the proper maintenance of a large number of bridges. Significant savings can be achieved by timely maintenance work. To achieve this, it is necessary to improve existing methods of inspection and monitoring of the condition of bridges to make their implementation cheaper, faster, and more reliable. In the last ten years, a significant number of unmanned aerial vehicles have appeared on the market. This paper presents their applicability for assessing the condition of bridges. It includes the following: important characteristics and selection criteria of unmanned aerial vehicles and associated equipment for collecting data on the condition of bridges; a description of the application of unmanned aerial vehicles to conduct a visual inspection on bridges; possibilities of monitoring bridges using data recorded by the unmanned aerial vehicle; a review of the key shortcomings that limit their application in everyday practice.