Chapter Semi-Automated Visual Quality Control Inspection During Construction or Renovation of Railways Using Deep Learning Techniques and Augmented Reality Visualization

Overview & Synopsis

The construction industry stands to greatly benefit from the technological advancements in deep learning and computer vision, which can automate time-consuming tasks such as quality control. In this paper, we introduce a framework that incorporates two advanced tools - the Visual Quality Control (VQC) tool and the Digital Twin visualization with Augmented Reality (DigiTAR) tool - to perform semi-automated visual quality control in the construction site during the execution phase of the project. The VQC tool is a backend service that detects potential defects on images captured on-site using the Mask R-CNN algorithm trained on annotated images of concrete and railway defects. The surveyor, aided by the Augmented Reality (AR) technology through the DigiTAR tool, can in-situ confirm/reject the detected defects and propose remedial actions. All the quality control results are recorded in the relevant BIM model and can be viewed on-site overlaid on the physical construction elements. This solution offers a semi-automated visual inspection that can speed up and simplify the quality control process, especially in case of large linear infrastructures, illustrating the added value of AR-based applications in Digital Twins