The construction industry has used drones for years. But having a drone and having reliable, consistent aerial data are two different things. That gap matters when you’re deep into a complex project.
Traditional drone workflows require planning, setup, and a certified pilot physically present for every flight. On straightforward projects, that friction is manageable. However, on a large, multi-year renovation much like Jacksonville’s Stadium of the Future, home to the Jacksonville Jaguars, with hundreds of team members on site, dozens of active cranes, and an NFL season on the horizon, capturing data consistently at the right times becomes its own coordination challenge.
From Manual Flights to Autonomous Operations
Drone use has been part of the Stadium of the Future project since its early stages and part of how Barton Malow operates across projects for years. But as the project has grown in complexity and coordination demands, the role of drone operations has expanded accordingly. During periods of heavy trade overlap, major structural progress, and active logistics coordination, having consistent, reliable visibility across the site has become a necessity.
Through our joint venture partnership with AECOM Hunt, our team has access to a fully autonomous drone dock: a climate-controlled, permanently installed station that enables scheduled flights without requiring a pilot physically on site for each operation. The drone launches, follows a predefined flight path, captures 4K imagery, and returns to its dock to recharge, ready for the next flight in as little as 15 minutes. All operations are conducted in full compliance with FAA regulations and site-specific safety requirements.
The system flies three times a day: a morning bowl capture, a full-site mapping flight midday, and a progress video loop in the afternoon. All data is stored in Autodesk Forma and DroneDeploy, where the full project team can access current imagery on demand.
The outcome may sound simple, but delivering it consistently has traditionally been difficult. This consistency supports clearer communication, stronger coordination, and more informed decision-making across the team.
Real-Time Visibility That Drives Better Decisions
The impact shows up throughout the project workflow. During scheduling meetings, our team can pull live aerial views to discuss progress in real time rather than relying on verbal updates, helping teams make more timely and informed decisions.
The lead superintendent receives a weekly photo package covering the bowl and each quadrant, providing a reliable visual record for tracking progress and coordinating the work ahead. Need a specific shot outside of the scheduled flights? A targeted flight can typically be turned around within the hour.
The Jacksonville Jaguars also have direct access to the project’s imagery through DroneDeploy, which they can use for marketing, social media, and public progress updates. That transparency has strengthened relationships and helped build public confidence that the project is on track—an important dynamic on a high-profile renovation with a passionate fan base watching closely.
Keeping the Site Moving Safely
The Stadium of the Future project is a high-intensity environment. Demolition, structural steel erection, and active NFL facilities all operate in close proximity, with site labor expected to nearly double as the project advances. Keeping tabs on a site that large and that active requires the right tools.
The autonomous system gives us aerial visibility without adding unnecessary foot traffic to an already busy site. Rather than walking out solely to verify conditions or document active or constrained areas, we can pull current imagery on demand or request a targeted flight to support safer operations.
The drone’s obstacle avoidance, programmed wind thresholds, and live radar display of surrounding aircraft make it a reliable tool even in a dense, crane-heavy environment, and its ability to capture angles and elevations not visible from the ground adds real value for observation and documentation.
Eyes on the Future
While the autonomous dock is currently unique for Barton Malow to the Stadium of the Future project, we’re using manual drone technology on some of our other large-scale stadium projects, such as the University of Central Florida’s Roth Tower and Penn State’s Beaver Stadium, where pilots fly and manage flights directly on site. We expect the autonomous drone approach to become more common over time, particularly on large, high-profile projects where site visibility and coordination are critical.
The technology itself is not new. What’s changing is how it’s intentionally deployed to support the way teams work. Autonomous systems that can be centrally managed across multiple large-scale projects have the potential to make consistent aerial data a standard part of how complex construction gets coordinated and delivered.
The autonomous approach may not be new, but it’s valuable because it changes what’s possible. Instead of aerial data being something you go get, it becomes something that’s simply there, part of how the project operates. That consistency is what helps us stay informed, aligned, and proactive. We stop reacting to what we find out and start building ahead of it. Better information means better decisions, and better decisions are how great projects get built.
About the Author: Doug Greenwell is a Senior VDC Manager on the Jacksonville Jaguars Stadium of the Future project. With experience in digital coordination, reality capture, and autonomous drone operations, Doug focuses on improving visibility, alignment, and decision-making through practical technology solutions. Throughout his career, he has helped architecture, engineering, and construction teams adopt new tools in ways that enhance collaboration, communication, and overall project delivery.
An autonomous drone dock is a climate-controlled, permanently installed station that enables scheduled drone flights without requiring a pilot physically on site for each operation. On the Stadium of the Future project, the system flies three times daily — a morning bowl capture, a full-site mapping flight at midday, and a progress video loop in the afternoon — with all imagery stored in Autodesk Forma and DroneDeploy for on-demand access by the full project team.
Reliable aerial data gives project teams a shared visual record they can reference in real time rather than relying on verbal updates. During scheduling meetings, teams can pull live aerial views to discuss progress, track site conditions, and make more timely decisions. The lead superintendent also receives a weekly photo package covering the bowl and each quadrant, providing a structured record for planning the work ahead.
The autonomous system provides aerial visibility without adding unnecessary foot traffic to a high-intensity site. Rather than walking out solely to verify conditions or document constrained areas, teams can pull current imagery on demand or request a targeted flight within the hour. Built-in obstacle avoidance, programmed wind thresholds, and live radar display of surrounding aircraft make it a reliable tool even in a dense, crane-heavy environment.
The Jacksonville Jaguars have direct access to project imagery through DroneDeploy, which they use for marketing, social media, and public progress updates. That transparency has strengthened the relationship between the team and the ownership group and helped build public confidence that the project is on track — an important dynamic on a high-profile renovation with a passionate fan base watching closely.
The autonomous dock is currently unique to the Stadium of the Future project within Barton Malow’s portfolio, while manual drone technology is in use on other large-scale stadium projects including the University of Central Florida’s Roth Tower and Penn State’s Beaver Stadium. The expectation is that the autonomous approach will become more common over time, particularly on large, high-profile projects where site visibility and coordination are critical.
