The Diagnosis of The Royal Tobacco Factory of Seville assisted by Quad-rotor Helicopters

This paper describes the application of small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), specifically quad-rotor helicopters, to the weathering analysis of external building walls. The demonstrations have been carried out in the Main Building of the University of Seville. This Monument built in 18th-century as the Royal Tobacco Factory was restructured to allocate the University of Seville in 1950s. The digital images and infrared records carried out by the UAVs have been contrasted with the weathering maps and infrared data taken on-site. The results show in both cases that the main weathering forms are loss of materials, fissures, fractures and chromatic alterations. The quality of images taken from the UAVs does not allow a clear quantification of damages, but it is a useful tool during the work on-site. Temperatures differences have been detected on cornices with the UAVs according to the IR records. Traditional façade analysis and monitoring of historical buildings usually requires a time-consuming activity, including sometimes setting up auxiliary scaffolding to provide accessibility to the target areas. The application of UAVs to this kind of activities would drastically reduce the time devoted to deployment, because the optimal height and distance from the wall can be reached without the need of auxiliary support structures. In addition, UAVs can cover the target area in a very short time and a safer way, because no direct handling of the sensors is required. Nevertheless, it would be valuable to increase the stability and the quality of images so it could be possible to carry out digital image analysis to quantify damages from the photo-mosaics developed by UAVs.