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Compact rover surveying and laser scanning for BIM development.
Syed Riaz Un Nabi Jafri1, Syed Murtaza Hussain2, Asif Ahmed2
1Department of Electronic Engineering, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan.
Plos One
|March 28, 2024
Summary
A low-cost, custom-built rover system offers efficient indoor surveying and mapping. This solution provides accurate 3D building models for developing markets, overcoming limitations of larger, expensive commercial alternatives.
Area of Science:
- Robotics and Automation
- Geomatics Engineering
- Computer Vision
Background:
- Commercially available mobile surveying systems are often large, limiting indoor maneuverability.
- High costs of existing systems hinder adoption in developing markets.
- Need for an economical and agile solution for indoor surveying and Building Information Modeling (BIM).
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop an economical, indigenous rover-based system for indoor surveying, mapping, and BIM.
- To enhance maneuverability and reduce costs compared to commercial surveying solutions.
- To validate the system's accuracy and user-friendliness for structural modeling.
Main Methods:
- Orthogonal integration of two low-cost RPLidar A1 laser scanners on a custom rover.
- Interfacing instrumentation with Robot Operating System (ROS) for data processing.
- Utilizing Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) for pose and map estimation.
- Employing Random Sampling and Consensus (RANSAC) for structural plane extraction from 3D point clouds.
Main Results:
- Successful scanning, mapping, and 3D modeling of various indoor environments.
- Generation of 2D floor plans and 3D building models from processed point cloud data.
- Validation of as-built models against original architectural designs, confirming accuracy.
- Demonstrated faster, more accurate, and user-friendly results compared to local market alternatives.
Conclusions:
- The developed rover-based system provides an effective and affordable solution for indoor surveying and BIM.
- The system overcomes the limitations of size and cost associated with commercial surveying equipment.
- Offers enhanced structural results with minute details, suitable for low-budget projects and developing markets.
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