DISTANCE MEASUREMENT IN THE AEC/FM INDUSTRY: AN OVERVIEW OF TECHNOLOGIES

One of the oldest, most common engineering problems is measuring the dimensions of different objects and the distances between locations. In AEC/FM, related uses vary from large-scale applications such as measuring distances between cities to small-scale applications such as measuring the depth of a crack or the width of a welded joint. Within the last few years, advances in applying new technologies have prompted the development of new measuring devices such as ultrasound and laser-based measurers. Because of wide varieties in type, associated costs, and levels of accuracy, the selection of an optimal measuring technology is challenging for construction engineers and facility managers. To tackle this issue, we present an overview of various measuring technologies adopted by experts in the area of AEC/FM. As the next step, to evaluate the performance of these technologies, we select one indoor and one outdoor case and measure several dimensions using six categories of technologies: tapes, total stations, laser measurers, ultrasound devices, laser scanners, and image-based technologies. Then we evaluate the results according to various metrics such as accuracy, ease of use, operation time, associated costs, compare these results, and recommend optimal technologies for specific applications. The results also revealed that in most applications, computer vision-based technologies outperform traditional devices in terms of ease of use, associated costs, and accuracy.