Smart Structures and Systems, Vol. 13, No. 6 (2014) 1065-1094 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12989/sss.2014.13.6.1065 1065 Copyright © 2014 Techno-Press, Ltd. http://www.techno-press.org/?journal=sss&subpage=8 ISSN: 1738-1584 (Print), 1738-1991 (Online) A review of rotorcraft Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) developments and applications in civil engineering Peter Liu 1 , Albert Y. Chen 2 , Yin-Nan Huang 2 , Jen-Yu Han 2 , Jihn-Sung Lai 3 , Shih-Chung Kang 2 , Tzong-Hann Wu 2 , Ming-Chang Wen 2 and Meng-Han Tsai 4 1 Department of Electrical Engineering, Tamkang University, No. 151 Yingzhuan Rd., Tamsui Dist., New Taipei City 25137, Taiwan 2 Department of Civil Engineering, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Rd., Taipei, 10617, Taiwan 3 Hydrotech Research Institute, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Rd., Taipei, 10617, Taiwan 4 Center for Weather Climate and Disaster Research, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Rd., Taipei, 10617, Taiwan (Received December 19, 2013, Revised March 30, 2014, Accepted April 12, 2014) Abstract. Civil engineers always face the challenge of uncertainty in planning, building, and maintaining infrastructure. These works rely heavily on a variety of surveying and monitoring techniques. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are an effective approach to obtain information from an additional view, and potentially bring significant benefits to civil engineering. This paper gives an overview of the state of UAV developments and their possible applications in civil engineering. The paper begins with an introduction to UAV hardware, software, and control methodologies. It also reviews the latest developments in technologies related to UAVs, such as control theories, navigation methods, and image processing. Finally, the paper concludes with a summary of the potential applications of UAV to seismic risk assessment, transportation, disaster response, construction management, surveying and mapping, and flood monitoring and assessment. Keywords: unmanned aerial vehicle; UAV application; automatic control; artificial intelligence navigation; image processing and analysis; nuclear power plant; transportation; disaster response; construction management; mobile mapping; flood monitoring and assessment 1. Introduction An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is an aircraft without a human pilot on board. The vehicle is controlled either autonomously by attached microprocessors or telemetrically by an operator on the ground. UAVs can be used to execute observation or detection missions through automatic or remote control. They are mainly used in mapping applications, environmental change monitoring, disaster prevention response, resource exploration, etc. Compared to other flying vehicles and satellite remote sensing technology, UAVs have two advantages when capturing aerial photographs: low cost and high mobility. However, they have many environmental restrictions on their use due Corresponding author, Associate professor, E-mail: sckang@ntu.edu.tw