Theses and Dissertations
Date of Award
5-1-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Computer Science
First Advisor
Qi Lu
Second Advisor
Constantine Tarawneh
Third Advisor
Jinghao Yang
Abstract
This thesis presents the development and experimental validation of a low-cost autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for non-contact vibration-based structural damage detection. We extract structural vibration signals directly from video recordings captured by the onboard camera during flight. The extracted vibration signals are analyzed in the frequency domain to identify natural frequency shifts associated with structural degradation and damage.
To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, a laboratory-scale steel frame structure is tested under both healthy and simulated damage conditions. In contrast to advanced commercial UAV inspection systems, the developed UAV achieves comparable inspection capability at a significantly lower cost of approximately $1,000, making it suitable for scalable and cost-sensitive monitoring applications. The UAV-collected vibration signals are also compared with signals obtained from multiple stationary sensing devices, including contact accelerometers, smartphones, and a USB camera. The reference signal is captured from a stationary board used to isolate and remove UAV-induced vibration, resulting in a more accurate estimation of the true structural vibration. The corrected vibration measurements exhibit a higher percentage error of up to 5.7%; the results remain sufficiently accurate for reliable structural damage identification.
The findings indicate that our low-cost UAV provides a practical and flexible solution for structural health monitoring, particularly in environments where traditional contact-based sensing is difficult or impractical. Furthermore, this work highlights the potential for future deployment of multiple cooperative UAVs to improve inspection coverage, robustness, and efficiency in largescale structural monitoring applications.
Recommended Citation
Becerril, J. A. (2026). Vision-Based Vibration Monitoring of Civil Structural Damage Detection Using a Low-Cost Autonomous UAV [Master's thesis, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley]. ScholarWorks @ UTRGV. https://scholarworks.utrgv.edu/etd/1918
Comments
Copyright 2026 Javier Becerril. All Rights Reserved. https://proquest.com/docview/3371165439