<p>This paper reports a series of experimental tests to assess the effectiveness of UAV technology for measuring deformation and vibration characteristics of beam members. A commercially available multi-rotor UAV is employed in conjunction with point-tracking techniques to measure static deformations of simply supported beams. The investigations are further extended to vibration measurements of cantilever beams to explore the feasibility of the UAV technology for measuring the natural frequencies. The results from both tests are compared with displacement sensors as well as stationary static and high-speed cameras. This study provides a good example of using UAV technology as a flying deformation monitoring platform in structural health monitoring.</p>
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