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Intelligent Wireless Web Services for Construction –A Review of the Enabling Technologies
Abstract
The vision of intelligent wireless web services, as discussed in this paper centres on the need to provide mobile construction workers highly specific data and services on an as-needed basis, with flexibility of use for the user. With the emergence of high speed wireless networks, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G, and parallel advancements in Internet based technologies such as the Semantic Web, Web Services, Agent based technologies and Context Awareness, the realisation of the vision of the intelligent wireless web has become a possibility. The paper presents a state-of-the-art review of the enabling technologies and discusses how, by exploiting the convergence and synergy between different technologies, it has become possible to deliver intelligent wireless web support to mobile construction workers.
... Similarly, Web-based technology, cloud computing technology, and SOA have also been paid a close attention. The representative wireless web service could offer specific data and services to mobile construction workers on-demand [5]. In addition, cloud computing has indeed attracted a fast growing interest in the post-dotcom boom [59]. ...
... In our review, 33 papers explored the use of access network for CSCM. Since the introduction of wireless communication and computing in construction jobsite [46], a large amount of related studies have been undertaken [5,81,82]. Wireless technology has been the supporting technology for implementing the infrastructure of M-internet [72]. Attention has been paid to wireless network technologies, such as WLAN (including Wi-Fi), GPRS and 3G in construction industry. ...
... The potential of various M-Internet technologies allows information acquisition and real-time sharing at different levels of CSC, including site-to-site, site-to-site office and site to project teams [5]. VR technology can generate a simulation environment for interactive 3D dynamic visualization. ...
Construction supply chain management (CSCM) has gained rapid development in last decades. As a result, the conventional Internet fails to fulfill demands for real-time information sharing and communication derived from various participants of the construction supply chain (CSC).The emerging Mobile Internet (M-Internet) has provided potential for solving this issue. This paper presents a systematic review on M-Internet based CSCM via descriptive and thematic analyses of publications retrieved from four major databases. The theoretical contribution of this paper is the development of an integrated framework in this research domain. This includes five aspects of CSCM, i.e. material flow and supply management, real-time information sharing and communication, coordination and integration in CSC, technology support for M-Internet, and associated safety issues. Finally, gaps in the existing body of knowledge are identified and future research agenda is proposed.
... Big-Data-related technology is conceptually related to the key information and communication technologies underlying digital construction [8,23]. erefore, the existing emerging information/digital technologies were taken as references similar to most of the related work [6,8,24,27,31]. ...
... e technological innovation has presented significant opportunities to the construction industry. Big-data-related technologies can capture multisource data and promote the real-time sharing of information across different participants in construction site [31]. e emergence of ICT and mobile Internet technologies (such as RFID, ad hoc network, wireless network, 3D laser scanning, PDA, and so on) facilitates the information communication and fusion on complex construction site [81,83] and improves the management performance. ...
The construction industry is facing a data tsunami, while emerging information technologies (IT) show great potential for the effective processing of these data or information. However, a comprehensive review for technological change, the resulting process, and organizational changes in the Big Data context, especially from the angle of whole lifecycle of construction project, is lacking. To fill the void, related works published in the databases of Web of Science, Science Direct, and American Society of Civil Engineers library are systematically reviewed. The general trend in emerging IT application in terms of construction project management (CPM) phases, technology and application, and research topics are revealed. Following this analysis, the particularized proposals in relation to each of the main topics within CPM is discussed. Furthermore, according to the advances and limitations of the current literature, corresponding future agendas such as the implementation of comprehensive data-driven CPM scenario are proposed to bridge the gaps between theoretical research and practical demands.
... Cloud Computing Technology for Collaborative Information System in Construction Industry. 18 th International Business Information Management Association (IBIMA), Istanbul, Turkey, May 9 & 10, 2012 2 chain are requesting for better value of money, higher quality, shorter construction cycle times and access to the up to date information, produced at any point in the project life cycle within the construction supply chain (O'Brien et al., 2011 andAziz et al., 2006). Although there have been a variety of technological advancements arisen within the construction industry (Anumba et al., 2008 andSze-wing et al., 2008 andAcar et al., 2005), but still there are many challenges in existing construction processes resulting from poor access to the right information at the right time for effective decision-making and from a general communication breakdown between project participants that could contribute to lack of collaboration and integration with in the construction supply chain parties and project stakeholders (Xuan et al., 2007;Peansupap et al., 2006 andKondratova et al., 2003). ...
... On the other hand, the adaptation of information communication technologies (ICT) technologies and tools in construction industry is slower compare to other industries. Aziz et al., (2006) asserted that there is limited application of context-aware technology in the construction industry. Furthermore, there are valuable opportunities via evolving the significant enabling technologies of CAID (Context-Aware Information Delivery). ...
Construction industry has been characterised with fragmentation, lack of integration and complexities in processes and activities. These characteristic could threat the delivery of project objective which could ultimately have negative impact on construction project success. Construction industry is associated with numerous activities, processes, organisations and individuals. Improving the collaboration within the construction industry parties will enhance the productivity, maximising the efficiency and effectiveness . Delivering the construction industry parties to access the accurate and up to date information with having the efficient communication via the reliable, competent and appropriate network is mostly a challenge. The main objective of this paper is to investigate the construction collaboration tools along with concepts of cloud computing and context-awareness. The findings in this research are based on a thorough review of the comprehensive literature on IT, computing and construction. Accordingly, this study has present and develop the concepts of potential innovative collaborative tools, such as Context-Aware Cloud Computing Information Systems (CACCIS). With implementing the CACCIS in construction industry, it will facilitate the construction supply chain processes, relations and networks along with increasing the opportunities for attaining enhanced competitive advantages in the construction industry. Firstly, it is hoped that this study will contribute on improvements in construction industry collaboration which could ultimately improve and enhance the competitive advantages within the construction industry. Secondly, it proposes the fresh visions of construction industry integration and most significantly collaboration in an efficient way that will eventually maximise the productivity, enhance the efficiency and the effectiveness of construction industry.
... Nevertheless, with recent technological advances, wireless and interoperative communications have become commonplace. Aziz et al. (2006) reviewed and compared intelligent wireless communication services in construction (e.g., Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and 3G), and discussed the integration with agent-based technologies to support mobile construction workers. Lee and Bernold (2008) developed a wireless system to realize ubiquitous communications that can link the information island together. ...
... Simulation of construction site Aziz et al. (2006), Du and El-Gafy (2012), Kim and Kim (2010a, b), Lee and Bernold (2008), and Watkins et al. Virtual coach and education Rojas and Mukherjee (2006) On the basis of the development process, new approaches have emerged and technologies have been continuously updated. ...
This study critically reviews multiagent systems (MAS) in construction. Given their autonomous, cooperative, and learning attributes, MAS are a promising approach to address the essential problems of collaboration and consensus among stakeholders in construction projects. Despite the development of many agent-based technologies and applications in recent years, relatively few reviews have been reported on this area. Based on selected papers, this study proposes a novel framework of MAS in construction. It focuses on collaboration and consensus in construction projects, and comprehensively organizes three dimensions of MAS: (1) application, (2) issue, and (3) attribute. Based on this framework, the applications and issues in construction domain can be facilitated with appropriate attributes of MAS, and it also can help find the potential applications of MAS in construction. Furthermore, this study clarifies the advantages of MAS and support collaboration and consensus in construction domain. Finally, the development of MAS in construction is presented, and future research directions are recommended.
... It should be noted that clients within the dynamic construction industry are requesting better value of money, higher quality, shorter construction cycle times and access to up-todate information. Moreover, they require such information to be produced at any point in both the project life cycle and construction supply chain (O'Brien et al., 2011;Aziz et al., 2006). ...
... On the other hand, the adaptation of information communication technologies (ICT) and tools in the construction industry is slower compared to other industries. Aziz et al. (2006) asserted that there is limited application of context-aware technology in the construction industry. Furthermore, there are valuable opportunities via evolving the significant enabling technologies of CAID (Context-Aware Information Delivery). ...
The construction industry has been characterised by fragmentation, lack of integration and complexities in processes and activities. These characteristics could threaten the delivery of project objectives which could ultimately have a negative impact on construction project success. The construction industry is associated with numerous activities, processes, organisations and individuals. Improving the collaboration between the parties within the construction industry will enhance productivity whilst maximising efficiency and effectiveness. Providing the construction industry parties with access to accurate and up-to-date information along with efficient communications via a reliable, competent and appropriate network is frequently a challenge. The main objective of this paper is to investigate the construction collaboration tools along with the concepts of cloud computing and context-awareness. The findings in this research are based on a thorough review of the comprehensive literature on IT, computing and construction. Accordingly, this study presents and develops the concepts and potential of innovative collaborative tools, such as Context-Aware Cloud Computing Information Systems (CACCIS). Implementing CACCIS in the construction industry will facilitate the construction supply chain processes, relations and networks along with increasing the opportunities for enhancing competitive advantages. Firstly, it is hoped that this study will contribute to improvements in construction industry collaboration which could ultimately improve and enhance its competitive advantages. Secondly, it proposes a fresh vision of construction industry integration and, most significantly, collaboration in an efficient way that will eventually maximize productivity and enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the construction industry.
... The process of contingency planning as proposed by Shoemaker[16] is followed largely where-ever possible, as shown in figure-1. However, the process of scenario planning has been further attenuated and blended with the techniques and method followed by past researchers Aziz, Bowden and Zainab [22][23][24][25] in construction industry planning. The congruence and similarity of construction sites with aerospace industry manufacturing plants can emulates as well as can render much broader guidelines for risk aversion vis-à-vis human safety, ground-safety(if not flight safety), plant fire hazards and environmental issues. ...
... [34, [38][39][40][41] [11,13] [39, 42,43] [44], [45] III Aerospace & Smart factory Automation [12,29,46,47] [18, [48][49][50][51] [10] [52] IV Scenario Planning [14] [16,17,21,25,26,[53][54][55][56] [27] [22][23][24]30] [3,18,48] ...
... Passports, the Internet of Things and Blockchain technologies have been highlighted as crucial technologies for facilitating the CE(AlJaber et al., 2023;Khan & Abonyi, 2022;Taddei et al., 2022), thereby creating the necessary trust and transparency for new business models to flourish. These are relatively new technologies not necessarily in use or adapted to the CE use by the construction sector(Aziz et al., 2006;Dixit et al., 2021;Jia et al., 2019). Such new tools need to be equipped with information that enables the new emerging common language of the CE to consolidate. ...
The construction sector remains a significant contributor to global climate change, accounting for one‐third of global greenhouse gas emissions as well as a substantial portion of solid waste. In response to this pressing crisis, the adoption of circular business models (CBMs) emerges as a way to avoid negative environmental impacts. This study sought to model the interconnected factors influencing future CBM implementation in the Chilean construction industry using a system dynamics modeling approach. By engaging 20 sector experts in a system modeling workshop, it was possible to model and analyze these interconnected factors as a CBM System. The structural analysis of the resulting CBM system model revealed the triumvirate importance of information dissemination, certification of projects and products, and professional training and education. Recommendations for policy and practice that successfully leverage these mechanisms center on a three‐pronged approach of combining effective stakeholder collaboration, technological innovation, and thoughtful product certification frameworks. Overall, a systems thinking and modeling approach, such as the one applied here, is essential for identifying the complex interactions between enablers and barriers that promote or inhibit sustainable transformation in the construction industry in Chile and beyond.
... Moreover, ontology is a common vocabulary and formal description [17] to define how the above data are linked, and how computers understand the above data, such that the semantic interoperability between the data can be addressed. In the AEC domain, since a unified data integration environment is created, the use of semantic web technologies has been studied as a promising strategy for data interoperability [18,19], information exchange [20,21], and complex cross-domain linkage [22]. A series of works on the development of ontologies (e.g., IoT sensor observations ontology (SSN) [23], brick ontology [24], and building topology ontology (BOT) [25]) have laid a basis for the integration of BIM data and IoT data. ...
A fire protection system takes on a critical significance to building operation. This paper describes the use of digital twins (DTs) and semantic web technologies for the intelligent control of building fire protection (BFP) systems in fire accidents. Specifically, a data fusion stage and several information-based control mechanisms are involved in the use of the two technologies. A designed BFP ontology is considered as the semantic model and basis of data fusion between the static building geometric information and the dynamic sensing data. The above information is incorporated into a DT data model, which is considered as the mapping of physical space. Moreover, rule models and process models are developed to achieve intelligent control mechanisms and keep the DT data model synced with the physical space. A case study based on a fire accident simulation was conducted to verify the feasibility of the use of DTs and semantic web technologies.
... By using this method, the tacit knowledge embedded into the mind of the practitioners can be captured. Besides, web-based tools developed for live knowledge capturing are convenient solutions to capture waste knowledge effectively due to the elimination of time and location limitations (Aziz et al., 2006). These tools can facilitate inter-project learning where the knowledge that emerged in different projects can be combined to form a generic organizational memory and enhance organizational learning. ...
Although the construction industry is critical for sustainability goals due to the high amount of waste it generates, its waste management performance is still not at the desired level. One of the main reasons for this can be attributed to the lack of enough knowledge of construction companies on the sources/reasons of waste and amount of waste. The major aim of this study was to develop a knowledge-based tool for capturing, storing, and disseminating waste-related knowledge for prefabricated steel construction projects. The developed tool can be used for waste estimation, monitoring, and minimization of all materials used during different phases of prefabricated steel structure projects based on the data captured from current and previous projects. One advantage of the tool is the integration of all processes of waste management, which have been usually considered independently in previous studies. Moreover, being a knowledge-based tool, it can increase awareness and learning ability of companies about waste and its management. Finally, although the process model of the tool is generic and can operate in alternative domains, the tool is applicable for only prefabricated steel projects. It is believed that the process model and the tool presented in this paper can be further customized for different project types and considering different company needs.
... Data from different sources come with different formats and follow different ontologies. The fact that each ontology is designed for different needs may obstruct interoperability within the AEC industry (Aziz et al., 2006). Hence, there has been a considerable number of attempts to provide an open source data schema for BIM interoperability such as BIMXML and COINS (Zhu et al., 2018). ...
As the use of autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV) for automated data collection from construction projects increases, construction stakeholders have become aware of a problem with inter-disciplinary semantic data sharing and exchanges between construction and robotic. Cross-domain data translation requires detailed specifications especially when it comes to semantic data translation. Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Geographic Information System (GIS) are the two digital building technologies used to capture and store semantic information for indoor structures and outdoor environments respectively. In the absence of a standard format for data exchanges between the construction and robotic domains, the tools of both industries have yet to be integrated into a coherent deployment infrastructure. In other words, the semantics of BIM-GIS cannot be automatically integrated by the robotic platforms currently being used. To enable semantic data transfer across domains, semantic web technology has been widely used in multi-disciplinary areas for interoperability. This paves the way to smarter, quicker and more precise robot navigation on construction sites. This paper develops a semantic web ontology integrating robot navigation and data collection to convey the meanings from BIM-GIS to the robot. The proposed Building Information Robotic System (BIRS) provides construction data that are semantically transferred to the robotic platform and can be used by the robot navigation software stack on construction sites. To meet this objective, first, knowledge representation between construction and robotic domains is bridged. Then, a semantic database integrated with the Robot Operating System (ROS) is developed, which can communicate with the robot and the navigation system to provide the robot with semantic building data at each step of data collection. Finally, the BIRS proposed system is validated through four case studies.
... The application of Semantic Web technologies in the AEC industry can be traced back to early 2000s [31], when researchers strived to improve the industry's data exchange process. For instance, Zeeshan et al. [32] and Aziz et al. [33] presented a state-of-the-art review regarding the synergy between different technologies in support of mobile construction workers, including the intelligent wireless web, semantic web, web services agent technologies, and context awareness. ...
The increasing need for interdependent infrastructure systems to withstand natural
disasters has called for the co-creation of resilience decisions to minimize the impact
on society. However, issues related to information integration across different
infrastructure systems hamper decision making from a system-to-systems perspective.
To resolve this problem, the Semantic Web technologies are presented in this paper to
serve four functions: (i) linking cross domains through ontology development to
represent different domain knowledge; (ii) integrating multiple-source heterogeneous
data by a common data format; (iii) retrieving useful information using semantic query
language; and (iv) deriving machine automatic logical reasoning by rule languages and
logic engines to provide informed resilience decision making support. The proposed
framework is tested by a case scenario involving intertwined drainage-transportbuilding
systems under the influence of urban flooding. The result indicates that the
framework effectively facilitates information integration between diverse infrastructure
systems and helps decision-makers by providing resilience decision-making support.
... The data from different sources come with different formats and they follow different ontologies. Each of those ontologies are designed for different needs, therefore, it may obstruct interoperability in the AEC industry (Aziz et al., 2006). Hence, there has been a considerable number of attempts to provide open source data schema for BIM interoperability such as BIMXML and COINS (Zhu et al., 2018). ...
With growth in the use of autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) for automated data collection from construction projects, the problem of inter-disciplinary semantic data sharing and exchanges between construction and robotic domains has attracted construction stakeholders' attention. Cross-domain data translation requires detailed specifications especially when it comes to semantic data translation. Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Geographic Information System (GIS) are the two technologies to capture and store construction data for indoor structure and outdoor environment respectively. In the absence of a standard format for data exchanges between the construction and robotic domains, the tools of both industries are yet to be integrated in a coherent deployment infrastructure. Hence, the semantics of BIM-GIS cannot be automatically integrated by any robotic platform. To enable semantic data transfer across domains, semantic web technology has been widely used in multidisciplinary areas for interoperability. We exploit it to pave the way to a smarter, quicker and more precise robot navigation on job-sites. This paper develops a semantic web ontology integrating robot navigation and data collection to convey the meanings from BIM-GIS to the robot. The proposed Building Information Robotic System (BIRS) provides construction data that are semantically transferred to the robotic platform and can be used by the robot navigation software stack on construction sites. To reach this objective, we first need to bridge the knowledge representation between construction and robotic domains. Then, we develop a semantic database to integrate with Robot Operating System (ROS) which can communicate with the robot and the navigation system in order to provide the robot with semantic building data at each step of data collection. Finally, the proposed system is validated through a case study.
... Nevertheless, SW technology is one of three web technologies (semantic search, cloud computing, mobile computing) that are not yet in general use in the AECO industry. SW, together with existing BIM technologies, can provide significant additional value, and researchers have emphasised the importance of these technologies for also providing improvements to information exchange [19], [75], [76], [77], [78], [79]. Together, SW and BIM technologies have the potential to meet the requirements for the storage, sharing and use of heterogeneous datasets [55,78]. ...
The construction industry lacks a comprehensive and holistic way of utilising Building Information Modelling (BIM) throughout a building’s life-cycle, where the transition to Asset Management (AM) and Facility Management (FM) is particularly lacking. Enterprise BIM (EBIM) is an emerging, unexplored, holistic organisational concept that is designed to support and optimise business management throughout the entire life-cycles of buildings and infrastructure. However, current understanding and implementation of EBIM is rare. To fix this gap in knowledge, this paper defines the EBIM concept and assesses associated perspectives from research and practice in order to integrate BIM more strongly into the enterprise’s core processes and other needs at different levels within the organisation and externally. To achieve a higher and more efficient utilisation of building data, however, EBIMs need to develop a clear life-cycle-based information management strategy, including coordination and communication between all stakeholders. The paper highlights and discusses the importance of both available and missing standards related to the effective implementation of EBIM. Several existing open standards have been identified to help strengthen the EBIM concept. The paper identifies a need to develop standards to integrate BIM and IoT (the Internet of Things) and standards that can handle both structured and unstructured data. The authors have conducted a wide-ranging review of research, practice and existing standards and considers today’s potential for using EBIM, as well as discusses existing challenges and future research needs. Furthermore, the EBIM concept is contextualised by providing a case study with focus on cleaning. This study identifies a need to develop best practices in interdisciplinary collaborative projects. Such practical implementation requires integrated and standardised information and technology management and the exploitation of the available technologies in interdisciplinary interaction with those involved in the various processes and the flow of information throughout the life-cycle.
... A knowledge-based RM tool should support live risk knowledge capture. In this respect, web-based platforms can be a convenient solution for the development of knowledge-based RM tools, since they enable live knowledge capture without time and location restriction (Aziz, Anumba, Ruikar, Carrillo, & Bouchlaghem, 2006;Han, Kim, Kim, & Jang, 2008;Lam & Ng, 2006). Besides, the employees can access the web-based platforms anywhere in the world, anytime, with any device so that risk-related knowledge can be captured and reused effectively (Han et al., 2008). ...
Construction projects are often deemed as complex and high-risk endeavours, mostly because of their vulnerability to external conditions as well as project-related uncertainties. Risk management (RM) is a critical success factor for companies operating in the construction industry. RM is a knowledge-intensive process that requires effective management of risk-related knowledge. Although some research has already been conducted to develop tools to support knowledge-based RM processes, most of these tools ignore some critical features, such as live knowledge capture, web-based platform for knowledge sharing and effective case retrieval for learning from past projects. Moreover, several RM phases, such as risk identification, analysis, response and monitoring are not usually integrated. Thus, this study aims to bridge these gaps by developing a knowledge-based RM tool (namely, CBRisk) via case-based reasoning (CBR). CBRisk has been developed as a web-based tool that supports the cyclic RM process and utilises an effective case retrieval method considering a comprehensive list of project similarity features in the form of fuzzy linguistic variables. Finally, the developed tool was evaluated and validated by conducting black-box testing and expert review meeting. Results demonstrated that CBRisk has a considerable potential to enhance the effectiveness of RM in construction projects and may be used in other project-based industries with minimal modifications.
... The effectiveness of a building is not dependent on its aesthetic value but on the ability to effectively perform throughout its lifetime [1]. Avoiding recurring latent building defects is of significant importance in this regard [2,3]. ...
The lack of Design for Maintainability (DfM) leads to avoidable building component defects and unproductive building operations. This study reports on the development of a building design assessment system which predicts maintainability impacts of design alternatives. A mixed method approach was used in this study where 1372 DfM benchmarks from 404 national and international building standards were analysed qualitatively to identify benchmarks relating to 123 critical building defects. Five Bayesian Belief Networks (BBN) were developed using five-year defect data and expert judgements from 95 case buildings. Monetary quantification of results was carried out, indicating the complex relationships between DfM benchmarks and building defects to great effect. The Bayesian networks were operationally validated using scenario tests and sensitivity analysis. The predictive power of the developed system is illustrated using an application to a hypothetical case study. This novel consequence-based DfM assessment system is a decision making tool aiding in designing more maintainable building systems which are more productive in terms of materials, labour and cost.
... Information and communication technologies are the core tools for IC. Aziz et al. (2006) predicted the function of intelligent wireless web support for mobile construction workers by examining convergence and synergy among high-speed wireless network technologies. Building information technology (BIM) is another main tool that is applied to achieve information-based integrated construction management, such as schedule, resource, cost, and conflict analysis, as well as dynamic collision detection (Hu and Zhang, 2011). ...
Intelligent construction technology has been widely used in the field of railway engineering. This work first analyzes the connotation, function, and characteristics of intelligent construction of railway engineering (ICRE) and establishes its system structure from three dimensions, namely, life cycle, layers of management, and intelligent function, to deeply understand the development situation of intelligent railway construction in China. Second, seven key technical support systems of ICRE, which include building information modeling (BIM) standard system for China’s railway sector, technology management platform and life cycle management based on BIM + GIS (geography information system), ubiquitous intelligent perception system, intelligent Internet-of-Things (IoT) communication system based on mobile interconnection, construction management platform based on cloud computing and big data, unmanned operation system based on artificial intelligence, intelligent machinery and robot, and intelligent operation and maintenance system based on BIM and PHM (prediction and health management), are established. Third, ICRE is divided into three development stages: primary (perception), intermediate (substitution), and advanced (intelligence). The evaluation index system of each stage is provided from the aspects of technology and function. Finally, this work summarizes and analyzes the application situation of ICRE in the entire railway sector of China, represented by Beijing-Zhangjiakou and Beijing-Xiong’an high-speed railways. Result shows that the technical support systems of the ICRE have emerged in China and are still in the process of deepening basic technology research and preliminary application. In the future, the ICRE of China’s railway sector will develop toward a higher stage.
... Furthermore, successful implementation of mobile ICT can result in cost savings, reduced project delivery time, and reduced impact of the physical dispersion of construction professionals (Aziz et al. 2006). Using cloud services, for example, documents can be accessed and updated easily and processed simultaneously by many users, and the new content can be made available immediately (Williams 2003;Arayici and Aouad 2005). ...
Although many construction organizations have recently adopted mobile information and communication technologies (ICT) such as smartphones and tablets to support project management activities, it has not been clear what drives the adoption of mobile ICT and what kinds of real benefits are provided by the use of mobile ICT in the context of construction project management. Against this background, the present study aims to empirically investigate the main consequences of the use of mobile ICT in construction project management and how the use of mobile ICT can ultimately affect construction productivity. An exploratory factor analysis based on survey data collected from 101 construction management professionals (CMPs) in Australia's construction industry identified five factors, namely, improved communication and work relationship, distraction and waste of time, better information management on-site, better management of construction defects, and improved work planning, as the most important consequences of their use of mobile ICT. An ordinal regression analysis based on the extracted factors revealed that the use of mobile ICT can influence construction productivity through improved communication and work relationship, distraction and waste of time, and better management of construction defects. In addition, this research revealed that the extent of usage of mobile ICT is related to three factors: better information management on-site, better management of construction defects, and improved work planning. These empirical results explain the benefits and risks of current mobile ICT in the context of construction project management and can also inform construction organizations regarding how to utilize mobile ICT effectively in their projects.
... Une forte tendance, pour l'enrichissement sémantique de l'IFC, consiste à réaliser un lien entre l'IFC et des ontologies, en particulier sur la base des solutions issues du domaine du web sémantique [23], [36], [72], [122], [139]. Le L'objectif essentiel des travaux portant sur le lien entre IFC et Web sémantique est de développer une extension ontologique à l'IFC [119], dans laquelle les modèles IFC sont convertis en graphes RDF et la sémantique des éléments des modèles IFC peut être précisée à l'aide d'annotations RDF [118]. ...
L’analyse de la performance énergétique des bâtiments neufs repose massivement sur des outils logiciels de simulation. La valeur ajoutée de ces derniers est indéniable : ils permettent d’optimiser la conception en facilitant l’évaluation des performances énergétiques du bâtiment durant la phase de conception. Leur impact est cependant limité par plusieurs obstacles, dont les principaux sont le niveau d’expertise requis pour leur utilisation et l’absence de connexion aux outils de Conception Assistée par Ordinateur (CAO). Ce dernier point devient particulièrement critique au moment où l’utilisation de la maquette numérique BIM (Building Information Model) se généralise et où les modèles issus d’outils de CAO sont de plus en plus riches.Cette thèse repose sur cette observation et propose, afin de profiter pleinement du potentiel du BIM et des outils en lien, de contribuer à l’émergence d’approches permettant une transformation fiable et transparente des informations du bâtiment numérique BIM vers les fichiers d'entrée des environnements de simulation. Cela se traduirait par des avantages significatifs, tant sur le rapport coût-efficacité (l’analyse est effectuée plus efficacement), qu’au niveau de la fiabilité (les modèles de simulation sont conformes aux modèles de conception). Toutefois, pour mettre en œuvre de telles approches, plusieurs obstacles doivent être pris en compte : le premier est la nécessité de disposer d’un langage normalisé commun pour le BIM, le deuxième est la définition de mécanismes méthodologiques efficaces et normalisés afin d’enrichir le BIM pour la simulation, le troisième est la mise à disposition d'outils logiciels fiables pour la transformation automatisée du BIM vers les modèles de simulation thermique.Le premier obstacle est en passe d’être levé grâce aux standards issus du consortium international buildingSMART, en particulier les « Industry Foundation Classes » (IFC) qui sont désormais largement reconnus comme un format d'échange standard du BIM dans le domaine de la construction. Le deuxième verrou reste actuel : l’IFC, même dans sa dernière version IFC4, laisse entier de nombreux problèmes de formulation de concepts propres aux domaines métiers, en particulier celui de la simulation énergétique. Cependant, des environnements méthodologiques ont vu le jour permettant d’étendre et d’enrichir de façon structurée les formats de données BIM. C’est par exemple le cas de l’IDM (Information Delivery Manual) et du MVD (Model View Définition) de buildingSMART, pour les IFC. L’objectif de nos travaux est triple. En premier lieu, il s’agit de mettre en œuvre et évaluer l’environnement IDM/ MVD de buildingSMART pour l’interconnexion entre le BIM (format IFC) et la simulation énergétique. Cette étude nous a amenés à proposer un modèle pivot (BSM pour « Building Simulation Model ») basé sur une analogie avec les approches prônées par l’ingénierie dirigée par les modèles. Nous avons également développé un outil logiciel, qui inclut une base de règles de mapping, afin d’automatiser la traduction de l’information entre le modèle IFC et le modèle de simulation. Cette approche a été évaluée sur la base de l’outil COMETH (moteur de simulation de la régulation thermique française RT2012) mais elle est généralisable.
... It is an open, neutral exchange format within AEC/FM domains [16]. Its purpose is to solve the information exchange problem in the informationintensive but fragmented AEC domain [24], where the existence of various 3D data formats from different vendors hinders the efficiency of data exchange. IFC is an international standard defined by ISO 10303-21 ("STEP-File"). ...
Integration of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Geographic Information System (GIS) largely relies on data exchange between the two systems. However, the usual tool for geometry transformation from IFC (BIM) to shapefile (GIS), i.e., the Data Interoperability extension for ArcGIS (DIA), tends to result in geometric errors and cause geometric information loss. This study proposes an Open-Source Approach (OSA), in which the geometric information in IFC is retrieved through the spatial structure of IFC, i.e., IFC-Tree, and converted into shapefile by developing an automatic multipatch generation algorithm (AMG). A test on bridge model shows that OSA is more efficient than DIA and is comparable to Feature Manipulation Engine (FME), and the transformed model is easier to manage and can be used in more applications. OSA can link BIM and GIS in a more stable and efficient manner by enhancing the data transformation from BIM to GIS. However, its efficiency should be further improved compared with FME.
... The effectiveness of a building is not dependent on its aesthetic value but on the ability to effectively perform throughout its lifetime (Aziz et al., 2006). This is a timely concern as the construction industry is facing continuing difficulties with defects that are avoidable with design for maintainability considerations (Liyanage & Kumar, 2003). ...
Construction industry faces continuing difficulties with defects that are avoidable with design for maintainability. A lack of tools to operationalize building maintainability, exasperated with unstructured data transitions hinders such applications in the industry. Thus, an information management problem is identified in the building delivery process. Building information modelling (BIM) is envisaged to leverage the storage and exchange of information used for maintainability scoring (MS). This study investigates how a BIM-based MS can overcome these challenges by structuring the MS information requirements. Expert interviews along with an extended desk study were used to develop an information management framework for BIM based maintainability assessment (BIM-MSS). Five distinct classes of information are used to repurpose data in a MS tool in developing construction intelligence. The findings supplement the body of knowledge in maintainability to draw necessary information from BIM models accurately and with ease.
... Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry is divers therefore information demanding (Aziz et al., 2006), and there are various 3D data formats in existence from divers vendors that deter information exchange in this field (Atazadeh et al., 2017). Although there are many open BIM standards, such as BIMXML and COINS in existence, IFC is the primary open data schema used for information exchange within AEC/FM domains (Amirebrahimi et al,2016), and it is EXPRESS-based which is developed by buildingSMART (formerly: International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI)) in 1994 (Mignard et al,2016). ...
City Geography Markup Language (CityGML) and Industry Foundation Class (IFC) are the two most popular data exchange format for the integration of Geographic Information System (GIS) and Building Information Modelling (BIM) respectively and has been identified by many researchers as an auspicious means of data interoperability between the two domains but with challenges on the compatibility between them. The main issue is the data loss in the process of information transformation. The success of integrating these two domains (GIS and BIM objects) is a great achievement toward solving problems in Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC), Facility Management (FM), Disaster Management (DM) sectors. Nevertheless, as we all know GIS and BIM are different fields used by different professionals using different software packages, used for different purposes, it is definitely face with many challenges including data interoperability, mismatch and loss of semantic information are bound to occur during the process of integration. In order to comprehend the two domains and their data models of CityGML and IFC. This paper review existing models on GIS and BIM developed by different researchers, the complementarity and compatibility of GIS and BIM on the previous integration techniques were also reviewed and finally, the paper review the integration of GIS and BIM at the data level aimed at solving different problems surrounding it by considering the transformation of coordinates at geometric level from CityGML to IFC, in order to achieve flow of information between GIS and BIM.
... Mobile ICT can facilitate access to unlimited information on the internet, instant correspondence using various applications, and collaboration between different teams using technologies such as audio and video conferencing [18]. Their successful implementation can result in faster decision making, cost savings, reduced project delivery time and reduced impact of the physical dispersion of construction professionals [19]. Therefore, it has potential to improve the field work, on-site information management, and productivity significantly in construction projects [4,20,21]. ...
... The SW technologies is referred to as one of three web technologies (semantic search, cloud computing and mobile computing) that are not commonly used in the construction sector, but they argue that SW could provide considerable value in addition to the already existing BIM technologies. Other researchers have emphasized the importance of these technologies providing improvements in information exchange in the construction industry (Aziz et al., 2004, Aziz et al., 2006, Pauwels et al, 2015. ...
The AEC–FM industry (Architecture/Engineering/Construction and Facilities Management) is increasingly using different building information modeling (BIM) methodology to solve complex challenges. With help of Semantic WEB technology, product data models and other relevant information are increasingly linked to BIM models. The article discusses the challenges of existing BIM standards to meet future requirements, to fully utilize semantic technology. The article provides suggestions for further research, and it specifically calls for a more strategic research that can look a bit longer than just the challenges associated with various limited case projects. The article discusses whether existing BIM formats are able to meet future requirements, where the potential in the construction industry to fully utilize semantic web technology is difficult with today's BIM standards. Furthermore, it is suggested that previously developed SW resources should be gathered, then earlier initiatives are easier to find, use and build upon. The literature study shows many initiatives spread across many domains in the AEC-FM area. Most studied articles have a high degree of technological focus, where the semantic web opportunities are tested in a chosen case.The findings of this study can be used as a starting point for further strategic research and development.
... The AEC industry is fragmented and information intensive [38], and there exist various 3D data formats from different vendors that hinder information exchange in this area [39]. Even though there exist many open BIM standards, such as BIMXML [40] and COINS [41], IFC is the primary open data schema used for information exchange within AEC/FM domains [33], which is EXPRESS-based and developed by buildingSMART (formerly the International Alliance for Interoperability) [42]. ...
The benefits brought by the integration of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are being proved by more and more research. The integration of the two systems is difficult for many reasons. Among them, data incompatibility is the most significant, as BIM and GIS data are created, managed, analyzed, stored, and visualized in different ways in terms of coordinate systems, scope of interest, and data structures. The objective of this paper is to review the relevant research papers to (1) identify the most relevant data models used in BIM/GIS integration and understand their advantages and disadvantages; (2) consider the possibility of other data models that are available for data level integration; and (3) provide direction on the future of BIM/GIS data integration.
... Many developments toward the convergence of wireless communications and Internetbased technologies have emerged. Mobile collaboration using wireless networking can be very effective at minimizing the impact of the physical dispersion of project managers and site supervisors (Anumba, Aziz, Bouchlaghem, Carillo, & Ruikar, 2006). Research suggests that reductions in project delivery time of 20 to 50 % are possible when enabling technology improves communication between project participants (Wood & Alvarez, 2005). ...
Construction projects are increasingly getting complex and fragmented in nature, yet contractors persistently face shortened project durations and reduced budgets. Timely delivery of accurate and reliable information among all project participants is critical and important because information is the foundation upon which decisions are made and projects are estimated, planned, monitored, and controlled. Recent developments in technology promise to introduce efficiencies that were not previously available to the industry. This study seeks to identify the current state of wireless information technology through the analysis of quantitative data from a web-based survey that represents the views of the respondents on the usage and interest in wireless technology. The study suggests that the level of interest in wireless technology is much higher than the level of use. Wireless technology enhanced the skills, productivity, and customer service of the participants, but did not improve their ability to negotiate projects and monitor project costs. The respondents believe that the return on investment is not a barrier; slow download speeds and durability are the largest barriers keeping people from using wireless technology.
... The architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry is fragmented and yet information intensive [1]. Information sharing between stakeholders in the AEC industry is critical for collaboration during the construction process. ...
The Building Information Modeling (BIM) domain and the Geographic Information System (GIS) domain share a mutual need for information from each other. Information from GIS can facilitate BIM applications such as site selection and onsite material layout, while BIM models could help generate detailed models in GIS and achieve better utility management. The mapping between the key schemas in the BIM domain and the GIS domain is the most critical step towards interoperability between the two domains. In this study, Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) and City Geography Markup Language (CityGML) were chosen as the key schemas due to their wide applications in the BIM domain and the GIS domain, respectively. We used an instance-based method to generate the mapping rules between IFC and CityGML based on the inspection of entities representing the same component in the same model. It ensures accurate mapping between the two schemas. The transformation of coordinate systems and geometry are two major issues addressed in the instance-based method. Considering the difference in schema structure and information richness between the two schemas, a reference ontology called Semantic City Model was developed and an instance-based method was adopted. The Semantic City Model captures all the relevant information from BIM models and GIS models during the mapping process. Since CityGML is defined in five levels of detail (LoD), the harmonization among LoDs in CityGML was also developed in order to complete the mapping. The test results show that the developed framework can achieve automatic data mapping between IFC and CityGML in different LoDs. Furthermore, the developed Semantic City Model is extensible and can be the basis for other schema mappings between the BIM domain and the GIS domain.
... Among the notable ones, Aziz's works (Aziz et al. 2006;Aziz et al. 2009) are based on the ascertainment that data in mobile context are usually statically presented. This does not fit to the AEC context where the conditions of a project are very dynamic. ...
The Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) sector gathers a wide range of stakeholders, roles and activities that may be performed in heterogeneous contexts. By " context " , we mean not only the environment and user's particularities but also the " cooperation context " associated to the activity to be carried out. The activity in the AEC projects is highly collaborative, particularly uncertain and takes place in a continuously changing " cooperation context " (e.g. due to new plans, new stakeholders, problems on site, etc.). The activity is also characterized by a strong mobility (e.g. workers on the building site) that implies information availability issues. Therefore, we suggest in this paper to consider new potential of context-aware technologies to support AEC business tasks. Interactive systems proposed for the sector do not usually address the usability issues implied by the various context changes. So, this paper introduces the use of Adaptive User Interfaces (AUI) for the AEC activity. AUI are particular context-aware applications capable of adapting themselves relevantly to the current context in order to better fit the ongoing task and the users. For this purpose, it is firstly required to identify the particular AEC context properties and to characterize them. Based on a state of the art, we propose a highlight of the contextual information relative to the collaborative aspects. We then suggest reviewing AUI and focusing on their principles and capacity to improve visualization and interaction according to the user's task. Many technical approaches exist such as the Model-Driven Engineer methods which we cover through a state of the art of AUI systems. Finally, we identify the potential usability and productivity benefits to apply AUI to common AEC tasks. For instance, we consider throughout this article, the cases of construction site meeting and inspection reporting. These cases are good examples of context variability, both organizational and environmental.
... proposed a corpus-based approach for automatically mapping domain ontologies commonly used in the building construction industry. Sematic web and web servicebased frameworks have been implemented for building design (Yang and Zhang, 2006) and knowledge management (Anumba et al., 2008;Aziz et al., 2006;El-Diraby and Kashif, 2005;Rezgui et al., 2010). Researchers in the construction field have also attempted to implement ontology-based systems to support safety management (Abdelhamid and Everett, 2000), risk management (Tah and Carr, 2001), defect management (Park et al., 2013), process management (Benevolenskiy et al., 2012), and project management (El-Diraby and Kashif, 2005). ...
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to present a framework for integrating construction supply chain in order to resolve the data heterogeneity and data sharing problems in the construction industry.
Design/methodology/approach
– Standardized web service technology is used in the proposed framework for data specification, transfer, and integration. Open standard SAWSDL is used to annotate web service descriptions with pointers to concepts defined in ontologies. NoSQL database Cassandra is used for distributed data storage among construction supply chain stakeholders.
Findings
– Ontology can be used to support heterogeneous data transfer and integration through web services. Distributed data storage facilitates data sharing and enhances data control.
Practical implications
– This paper presents examples of two ontologies for expressing construction supply chain information – ontology for material and ontology for purchase order. An example scenario is presented to demonstrate the proposed web service framework for material procurement process involving three parties, namely, project manager, contractor, and material supplier.
Originality/value
– The use of web services is not new to construction supply chains (CSCs). However, it still faces problems in channelizing information along CSCs due to data heterogeneity. Trust issue is also a barrier to information sharing for integrating supply chains in a centralized collaboration system. In this paper, the authors present a web service framework, which facilitates storage and sharing of information on a distributed manner mediated through ontology-based web services. Security is enhanced with access control. A data model for the distributed databases is also presented for data storage and retrieval.
... A web service may be discovered and invoked by using its technical specifications. Web services have been implemented in the construction industry for various purposes, such as information sharing among mobile construction workers (Aziz et al. 2006), supply chain collaboration (Cheng et al. 2010), measuring and monitoring carbon footprint in construction supply chains (Cheng, 2011), interoperability between web-based construction product catalogues (Kong et al. 2005), etc. Implementation of web services in a SOA has been explored for designing a seamlessly integrated platform using RFID/WSN technology for communicating and managing information from heterogeneous sources in construction supply chains (Shin et al. 2011). ...
Green building design has been a major trend in the last decade which has largely affected the AEC industry. As of 2013, for example, there were over 13,000 green buildings certified with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environment Design) in the United States alone. Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology and computer simulations are adopted largely for green building design. However, while information sharing and automated, collaborative design review are important for the design of green buildings, the current way of BIM-based green building design relies mainly on individual file transfer and does not support collaboration in the distributed environment of construction projects. On the other hand, as the Internet becomes ubiquitous, the web provides convenient and cost-efficient means for multi-location cross-organizational collaboration. Energy analysis and validation against standard building codes are two major processes in green building design evaluation. This paper presents a modular web service based framework which integrates the information necessary for green building design, automates the building design evaluation processes, and facilitates simple updates on the building model on a common but distributed platform. This framework is based on BIM data models like gbXML (Green Building XML) which contain information for green building design like geometry of the building, material, and sensor information from more than one source. The BIM data models act as a single source of building information for all processes. Building design evaluation and updating are iterative in green building design and require information and inputs dispersed among various project participants. Since our framework follows a distributed architecture and is easily accessible from the Internet, it makes the information required to facilitate the iterative process and its results conveniently available to a multi-participant environment. The paper also presents an example scenario demonstrating the developed framework.
... Very often, team members are involved in several projects at the same time. Recent trends towards the convergence of wireless communications and internet-based technologies have the potential to open new avenues of mobile collaboration, thereby minimizing the impact of the physical dispersion of team members (Aziz et al., 2006). In the contemporary environment projects involve larger capital investments, embrace several disciplines, involve widely dispersed project participants, require tighter schedules and demand stringent quality standards. ...
There is a global tendency towards implementing centralized project monitoring with the use of advanced information systems in large projects. This trend is mandated by issues such as the geographical dispersion of projects, the number of contractors and the total amount of works. In this respect, the integrated information system that has been utilized to monitor the construction works of the Egnatia Motorway project in Greece is presented. Reference is made to the software, hardware, information technology architecture, quality procedures and personnel training for the successful implementation of the system. Special mention is made to the data structures that are utilised (enterprise project structure, organizational breakdown structure, resource breakdown structure, and work breakdown structure). In addition, comments are made from the experiences drawn from the implementation of the system. Overall, it is concluded that the integrated system constitutes a central focal point for corporate scheduling and cost control.
... Compared to underground mining operations the interoperability research is more advanced in the field of AEC/FM (architecture, engineering, construction and facilities management). [10] have reviewed wireless web services enabling technologies, [11] have made an extensive review from data and application integration research in construction domain, and [12] have conducted a comprehensive review on system integration technologies in AEC/FM. In the following, few information management studies from AEC/FM field are introduced. ...
In the underground mining and tunnelling rock excavation processes, there is plethora of different machine, tool and information system providers involved and practically no general information model covering the complete process. The competition in the field is getting more intense and all the actors should intensify their operations. The information management and integration of different information systems' data is among the most interesting enablers for such a better operational efficiency. The main goal of the research was to develop flexible methods for better application interoperability and information management for the underground rock excavation processes. The research used a literature survey, a commercial systems survey, professional interviews and worksite observations in order to develop a new general information model for rock excavation and define a toolchain for the exploitation of the developed model. In this research, the information model for underground rock excavation actions was developed applying applicable parts of existing standards and software tools. The main information model can be extended by using separately designed sub-models. In addition to information model also a toolchain of how to practically do the model development and information integration, has been described. These actions will enhance information management and application interoperability in the rock excavation processes and enable more efficient information exploitation leading potentially to better controlled processes, more efficient work phases and cost savings.
... The concept of SaaShas been around for some years. Researchers have studied the potential of web services technology for information exchange and collaboration among project stakeholders and supply chain members (Kong et al.,2005;Aziz et al., 2006aAziz et al., , 2006bCheng et al., 2010). Cloud computing adds the concepts of IaaS and PaaS and offers a utility-based pricing model. ...
This chapter discusses the potential and implication of cloud computing technology in the construction industry to facilitate communication and collaboration among distributed construction project stakeholders. This chapter begins with a summary of cloud computing technology and its characteristics. It then reviews the development of major construction collaboration technologies and discusses the potential of cloud computing for collaboration. This chapter presents the potential benefits of cloud-based collaboration in the construction industry. Technical and social challenges of cloud computing adoption in the construction industry are also discussed to identify future research gaps, with suggestions on the possible solutions. Last, but not least, this chapter proposes a distributed cloud-based collaboration model that is designed for construction collaboration and management.
... Context Awareness. Context awareness has been adopted in the construction applications in recent years (Aziz et al. 2006). Keidl and Kemper (2004) states that context includes all information about the client of a web service that may be utilized to adjust the execution and output for providing the client with a customized and personalized behaviors. ...
Standardized web services technology has been used in the construction industry to support activities such as sensing data integration, supply chain collaboration, and performance monitoring. Currently these web services are used for exchanging messages with simple structure and small size. However, building information models often contain rich information and are huge in size. Therefore, retrieving and exchanging building information models using standardized web services technology is challenging. This paper discusses the usage of ontologies and context awareness in standardized web services technology to facilitate efficient and lightweight information retrieval and exchange. Ontologies for building information such as Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) and aecXML have been developed for over a decade and become mature. These ontologies can be leveraged to structure the input and output messages of web services. On the other hand, context awareness not only provides data security according to user's location, time, and profile, but also enables retrieval and exchange of partial information models. This paper presents and demonstrates an ontology-based context aware web service framework that is designed for retrieval and updating of building information models.
... The adoption has been slow due to the dependence on physical proximity and sight for bar codes, and the limited information of the material detected by the RFID system. Wireless local area networks (WLAN) featuring Wi-Fi, also technically known as 802.11 for a 2.4 GHz radio-band, have been considered as a key opportunity for the construction industry sector (Böhms et al. 2003;Aziz et al. 2006). ...
Many problems related to loss of productivity in the construction of building projects arise from the lack of procurement information. The reasons for these problems include incomplete, incorrect or late information of material deliveries, resulting in extra cost and time to complete a project. Additionally, deliveries are often not properly planned; thereby scheduled materials do not arrive to site when required. The fragmented nature of materials management practices characterized by the lack of coordination among the different participants involved creates an opportunity for significant improvement. This paper presents a methodology and a set of tools that will allow for the implementation of strategies, which facilitate the integration of the different project stages and allow collaboration among contractors, designers and material suppliers. This involves the implementation of an intelligent system that utilizes a Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) network for the association of location data, tracking mechanisms and material identification during the preconstruction and construction tasks. Furthermore, this intelligent system facilitates associations between material takeoff, bill of quantities and actual assembly on site using e-Work. Previous attempts to associate design and as-built data with materials tracking and identification have consisted of isolated identification of components in the construction site through the use of bar codes, radio frequency identification systems, global positioning systems or laser radar imaging, and manual updates to the design documents. The new intelligent system develops a robust framework that incorporates product acquisition data from the early stages of design and estimating, and material location and tracking during the construction stage, with dynamic real-time updates to the design documents. The benefits from the implementation of this intelligent system include automatically generating as-built drawings, expediting material delivery, streamlining submittal reviews, increasing process and facility quality, and performing an integrated construction process.
... This point is typically a computer that store data and software required to ensure that data sent by the wireless transmitter is interpreted, displayed and stored in a usable form. [Hill, J. et al., 2004] [Szewczyk, R. et al., 2004] [Aziz, Z. et al., 2006] have pointed out the recent advances in wireless technology and deployment of systems easier. Of particular note is the use of mesh networking. ...
The automation of a building requires a huge number of cables that highly increase the installation costs. At the physical level, wireless plays an important role towards flexibility and self-configuration in building automation. With the use of wireless technologies it is expected to reduce total costs of ownership and maintenance in new building automation systems. Wireless systems could easy provide old buildings with relatively low cost, automation functionalities. The paper presents the state-of-art in this knowledge domain discussing the advantages and handicaps of wireless approaches in building automation.
... For these workers, the ability to receive, communicate and process useful data is essential. Examples of applications that could be managed by mobile workflows include construction systems [7] and e-health systems [8]. ...
Mobile workflows can be seen as extensions of the general enterprise business process. Since they are developed for mobile environments, they must be flexible, dynamic and adaptive. The purpose of this paper is to propose the design of MOBIFLEX a generic architecture for mobile workflows. For the solution we propose an architecture integrating hybrid mobile-static multi-agents systems with intelligent capabilities and Web-services since theses new technologies when put together can generate a flexible, reconfigurable and adaptive solution to fulfill easily requirements of mobile workflows. The architecture is empowered by fault-tolerance mechanism and the choice of mobile agent is validated analytically. Finally we show how this architecture can be implemented on JADE platform.
... According to Aziz and his colleagues (Aziz et al., 2006), which primarily describes "Intelligent Wireless Web Services for Construction" provides specific data based on users needs, by giving them flexibility to choose the existing information. The focus of this paper is to exploit the convergence and synergy between different technologies, which has become possible to deliver intelligent wireless Web support, in a particular case, to mobile construction workers. ...
... The consideration of user satisfaction, such as user profiles, role preferences, and construction tasks, should be addressed to ensure the efficacy and accuracy of information delivery during the construction process, thereby saving valuable time. Potential benefits can then be expected, such as improvement in efficiency and productivity [14,15]. ...
In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the adoption of emerging ubiquitous sensor network (USN) technologies for instrumentation within a variety of sustainability systems. USN is emerging as a sensing paradigm that is being newly considered by the sustainability management field as an alternative to traditional tethered monitoring systems. Researchers have been discovering that USN is an exciting technology that should not be viewed simply as a substitute for traditional tethered monitoring systems. In this study, we investigate how a movement monitoring measurement system of a complex building is developed as a research environment for USN and related decision-supportive technologies. To address the apparent danger of building movement, agent-mediated communication concepts have been designed to autonomously manage large volumes of exchanged information. In this study, we additionally detail the design of the proposed system, including its principles, data processing algorithms, system architecture, and user interface specifics. Results of the test and case study demonstrate the effectiveness of the USN-based data acquisition system for real-time monitoring of movement operations.
... Other monitoring methods, such as the usage of mesh networking for connecting controllers in a building [12] and the implementation from voice communications to low data rate monitoring [13] have been extensively discussed. A large and growing body of authors (such as, Pottie and Kaiser [14], Akyildiz et al. [15], Estrin et al. [16], Hill et al. [17], Szewczyk et al. [18], Azia et al. [19], Jang et. al. [20]) has investigated the deployment of wireless systems. ...
Peak heat loads influences negatively the performance
of district heating (DH) systems. During peak loads
fuel based heat boilers (e.g. gas boiler) are used resulting in
expensive operational costs and large CO2 emissions. Within
the project SmartHeatNet intelligent network operation and
control strategies to reduce peak heat loads have been developed
and implemented. Demand Side Measures (DSM), such as load
shifting/shedding, were investigated and monitoring results from
a test case in the DH network of Altenmarkt in Pongau (from
the ESCO Salzburg AG) have been used to validate simulations
and assess energy savings. To enable a cost effective monitoring
process, it is important to allow a rapid deployment of the
monitoring system. To fulfil that a field-ready kit consisting
of hardware, software, monitoring concepts and accompanying
evaluation concepts has been developed. This paper contributes
with the definition of a workflow for the deployment of monitoring
system. The proposed approach supports the documentation
of the monitoring process and reduces the complexity of the
deployment procedure. The process model has been validated
in realistic test deployment. Focus was the indoor comfort for
building users.
... WLAN featuring Wi-Fi (It stands for ''Wireless Fidelity''), and ZigBee, technically known as 802.11b and 802.15.4, can act through a 2.4 GHz radio-band [41]. Their networks consist of coordinators, routers and end-devices with excellent communication ranges of approximately 50 m and 1000 m, respectively. ...
Recent research has indicated that even though construction materials and components may constitute more than fifty percent of total project costs, existing methods for managing them still depend on human skills. This traditional data collection is time and labour-intensive, error-prone, and unreliable, due to the reluctance of workforces to monitor and record the presence of large numbers of material. Automating the task of identifying and tracking construction materials can provide timely and accurate information on materials available to the manager. This paper investigates a new approach for integrating the latest innovations in ADC technologies for real-time data collection in construction. In this approach, the combination of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Global Positioning System (GPS), and General Packet Radio System (GPRS) technologies can facilitate extremely low-cost, infrastructure-free, and easy-to-implement solutions to uniquely identify materials, components, and equipment. The presented system is fully automatic and will lead to their location and tracking in three phases, namely, production sites (off-site), en-route (shipping), and construction job sites (on-site), almost instantaneously.
Construction projects plays an important role in nation’s development. The complexity and dynamic environment of the construction industry characterized it frequent cost, time overruns, low quality, etc. for construction project management. This study therefore uses a systems thinking approach to identify the key variables that are affecting this trend. Casual loop and Systems Archetypes were used to develop systems models to determine the components and interactions between the policy and the social, environmental and economic dimensions of the industry. As demonstrated in the aforementioned CLD and archetypes, construction projects will remain to be the engine that develops and empowers the emerging and existing commercial business, housing sectors and nation building across Africa. This systems thinking approach will also provide more clarity in dealing with the complex management challenges and gradually replace the traditional theoretical approach of dealing with construction project management.
Over the recent years, the usage of semantic web technologies has notably increased in the domains of architecture, engineering and construction (AEC). These technologies are typically considered as complementary to existing and often used Building Information Modelling (BIM) software. The usage of these technologies in the AEC domains is thereby motivated by (1) a desire to overcome the interoperability issue among software tools used in diverse disciplines, or at least improve information exchange processes; (2) a desire to connect to various domains of application that have opportunities to identify untapped valuable resources closely linked to the information already obtained in the AEC domains; and/or (3) a desire to exploit the logical basis of these technologies, which is currently undisclosed in the AEC domains. Through an extensive literature study and survey, this article investigates the development and application progress of semantic web technologies in the AEC domains in accordance with these three primary perspectives. These examinations and analyses provide a complete strategical map that can serve as a robust stepping stone for future research regarding the application of semantic web technologies in the AEC domains. Results show that semantic web technologies have a key role to play in logic-based applications and applications that require information from multiple application areas (e.g. BIM + Infra + GIS + Energy). Notwithstanding fast developments and hard work, challenging research opportunities are situated in (1) the creation and maintenance of the links between the various data sets and in (2) devising beneficial implementation approaches that rely on appropriate combinations of declarative and procedural programming techniques, semantic and legacy data formats, user input, and automated procedures.
BIM (Building Information Model) applications cover many areas such as quality control, monitoring, structural analysis and space management. BIM is also widely used as a basis for energy simulation as it contains most of the data needed for energy analysis. However, buildings feature multi-physics phenomena in which energy is only one aspect; therefore it is often needed to jointly perform different kinds of simulations and, to properly connect BIM to the related simulation environments and formats. In line with this concern, our research work focuses on the issue of heterogeneous multi-models interoperability for simulation. The aim is to devise an approach and to develop tools that can support and enhance connections between BIM authoring tools and simulation tools, covering various physical dimensions. To implement this approach, we propose to rely on some well-proven and focused standards from the Building Smart International consortium, namely the IDM (Information Delivery Manual) and the Model Views Definition (MVD). In this respect, this paper brings two contributions. The first is an in-depth review and discussion of the interoperability issues of the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) area, in particular since the advent of BIM technologies. The second is an account of the first results of our research work, focusing on the definition and implementation of a well-structured and standards-compliant approach to the generation of energy simulation models from BIM IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) models. This work entailed defining a mapping between the building elements as defined in the targeted simulation engine (the simulation engine of the French thermal regulation), and the corresponding IFC elements and attributes. As the IFC do not cover all the required elements for energy simulation, further enrichment of the IFC – either through ad hoc extension or through connection to complementary data sources – was defined and implemented.
This dissertation contributes a structured understanding of the fundamental processes involved in developing context-aware computing applications for the civil infrastructure industry. The civil infrastructure industry is characterized by mobile human and machine agents actively engaged in real-time decision-making tasks in a dynamic and unstructured workspace environment. This distinguishes context-aware computing from other computing technologies in three aspects: 1) it has the ability to perceive, interpret, and adapt to the agent???s evolving workspace; 2) It streamlines project data and presents the agent with information pertinent to its context, thus eliminating the agent???s tasks to accomplish the same; 3) By leveraging contextual information, it supplements decision-making tasks in real-time.
This research has successfully investigated technical approaches to address fundamental aspects of introducing context-aware applications to civil engineering, including: the ubiquitous localization of mobile agents in dynamic, unstructured environments; abstraction of the spatial-context and identifying the objects of interest to the agent; and the suitability of using standard models to manage and organize data for context-aware computing applications. A computational framework for designing context-aware applications to support real-time decision-making has also been implemented. The framework allows researchers and other end users to leverage currently available context-sensing technology to design and implement innovative solutions to domain specific problems.
The researched methods have been validated through several experiments conducted at the University of Michigan, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Michigan Department of Transportation. These experiments have resulted in the implementation of several applications ??? to support real-life decision-making tasks ??? that not only serve to illustrate the usefulness of the framework, but also have significant social and economic implications. Among these applications are the controlled drilling system that warns drilling personnel when the drill bit tip is about to strike rebar or utility lines, thus helping preserve the structural integrity of concrete decks and preventing utility strike accidents; an automated fault detection system that diagnoses faulty components of an underperforming HVAC distribution network; and an innovative bridge inspection solution that supports condition assessment decision-making, thus introducing objectivity to visual condition assessment by providing concurrence with the Structural Health Monitoring data.
Purpose
– In spite of the benefits of virtual models in the building and construction industry, the full potential of these models, especially in the construction and operation phases, remains largely unrealized. With the increasing developments in information and communication technology, a number of attempts have been made to extend the use of these models, through the development of integration approaches and technologies. However, the issue of integrating the virtual model and the physical construction such as to enable bi-directional coordination, has not been adequately addressed. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the application of a cyber-physical systems (CPS) approach in enhancing bi-directional coordination between virtual models and the physical construction.
Design/methodology/approach
– This research employs scenario development rapid prototyping to illustrate CPS integration in the construction industry, with a particular focus on facilitating bi-directional coordination. The proof-of-concept prototype systems developed were validated using a focus group consisting of industry practitioners.
Findings
– Bi-directional coordination between virtual models and the physical construction has the potential to improve real-time progress monitoring and control of the construction process, tracking of changes and model updates, information exchange between the design office and the job site, real-time documentation of the as-built status of high-value components and improved sustainability practices.
Originality/value
– This paper adds value to the construction industry by demonstrating the application of the CPS approach in enhancing bi-directional coordination between virtual models and the physical construction through the development of system architectures, scenarios and prototype systems.
Site inspection, vital if an edifice construction process is to accurately stay its course, is a notably tedious, time-consuming , and error-prone process when carried out manually by construction inspectors. Hence, it is a prime candidate for automation, which would reduce both the effort and time incurred while improving the accuracy and organization of the data obtained. Building on recent developments in the fields of step detection using inertial measurement units (IMUs) and ego-motion estimation coupled with structure from motion (SFM) using a digital camera, this paper takes the initial steps and presents research targeted at automating the construction site inspection process. The IMU and camera rigs are attached to the inspector, whose role is then limited to merely transporting the unit to and around key inspection sites. The data collected from each sensor is processed and fused to yield a better localization estimate. This estimate is then used to guide a SFM algorithm towards producing a 3D point cloud of the inspected site, which is processed by a plane-fitting routine to produce a 3D model of the edifice's as-built structural state. The latter is then compared to the design intent, as described in the edifice's floor plans. The components of the proposed system have been tested through proof of concept experiments and preliminary results highlighted the potential of visual-inertial ego-motion estimation combined with SFM followed by plane-fitting for improving inspection processes in mobile construction engineering applications.
Bridge inspections are tedious, time consuming, and complex tasks in the field that require highly specific information pertinent to the decisions at hand. The use of a centralized inspection database and bridge inspection reporting software has been explored by several state DOTs in recent years. During an inspection routine, the inspector visually assesses the condition of a particular bridge component. Based on a priori knowledge of the bridge components' taxonomic hierarchy and ontology, the inspector navigates to the form corresponding to the component. The inspector then reports the component's condition to the database. Context-aware computing offers the possibility to make inspections more efficient by reducing the time required to navigate the software and the effort spent by inspectors to learn, remember, and recall the taxonomic hierarchy and ontology of bridge components. Context-aware computing leverages environmental variables, which define the inspector's context, and delivers streamlined information, pertinent to the task at hand, to assist decision making. This paper presents a computing framework that identifies the component of interest to the inspector and automatically queries the inspection database to retrieve information relevant to the component being assessed. The framework's run-time and space complexity are analyzed and presented. The uncertainty in sensing the inspector's location and line of sight are translated into errors in identifying the component of interest. Using a case study bridge, sensitivity analysis is performed to evaluate and characterize the errors in identifying the component of interest due to the errors in tracking technologies through simulation studies and field testing. The sensitivity analysis is used to evaluate the feasibility of employing global positioning systems (GPS) and magnetic compass technologies for location and line-of-sight tracking. Finally, the authors suggest a workflow design for integrating the framework into bridge inspection reporting software.
Precast concrete components are basic element of modern construction industry. Their lifecycle involves many steps, in which the element's progress is usually tracked on paper. Similarly construction projects do not often have a formal information management process. Increased traceability and information management could address issues related to duplicated information management work, lack of real-time information, information delays and access issues. A study of how an information system can be integrated to the construction process and what kind of services can be implemented with the unique tracking of precast concrete elements is reported here. The tracking and data management is implemented with embedded RFID chips in each of the elements. The viability of building information modelling, traceability, management, gathering of quality management data and logistics location management services are shown to work with a series of pilot projects. The information system increases the amount and the detail of data, providing more tools for data management and reduces the amount of human errors involved in information management.
Available: http://itcon.org/data/works/att/2013_7.content.01140.pdf
The motivation for working up this report was to provide the parties involved or interested in Ubicom activities with information about opportunities and enablers in the area, and to contribute Tekes in defining research topics for the current and future research programs dealing with Ubicom. The main approach in the report is from the application system viewpoint. The main emphasis of the technical enablers is in short-range wireless communication technologies. The report deals with the evolution and different approaches to the Ubicom concept around the world, possible application areas and scenarios with general requirements concerning them, key technical enablers with an estimation of their applicability and development during the next few years, aspects for the planning and evaluation of the business models of application systems, and recommendations for the future research activities and leading commercial applications. The main suggestions of this report for the Ubicom research are: The research should be interdisciplanary, that is, it should combine human sciences, usability studies, business and economic research as well as legislation and ethical issues with the technology research, which is the basic enabler of the advancements in this area. Furthermore, both the application and the technology viewpoints must be combined. The core technology research should address short-range wireless communication, middleware, reasoning and smart algorithms, usability issues, as well as sensors and actuator technologies.
In this paper, we introduce MyCampus, an agent-based environment for context- aware mobile services, which we are in the process of developing and validating on Carnegie Mellon University's campus. The environment revolves around a growing collection of customizable agents capable of (semi-) automatically discovering and accessing Intranet and Internet services as they assist their users in carrying out different tasks (e.g. planning an evening out, organizing a study group or filtering incoming messages). The openness of the MyCampus architecture directly derives from a set of ontologies for describing contextual attributes, user preferences and web services. Preference and contextual ontologies make it possible to develop agents that can automatically understand user contexts and preferences, allowing users over time
The Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) initiative provides for distributed web-based information registries of web services. UDDI registries can be used to promote and discover distributed web services. This provides an alternate model to that offered by catalog vendors to date where each manufacturer has to provide separate information to each catalog within which they wish to list their products. This project describes an implementation of UDDI registries to test their ability to handle product manufacturers and suppliers in a brokering framework. It provides a uniform interface for manufacturers and suppliers to define their business offerings and their ability to provide further information to interested parties. The system also provides a product search interface for users to identify products matching a particular classification and discusses how this could be extended to include product parameters.
Location and time independent interaction and collaboration among the multidisciplinary competencies of building industry at early design stage highly influence the quality of final building products. A cross-platform IT supported virtual workspace is therefore necessary. This semantic web based distributed virtual workspace will be built on meta-structured languages, XML and RDF, and integrated with ontologies to serve as a dynamic knowledge pool for decision-making support. Virtual building with time tracking capability to formulate the redundant building's descriptions throughout its simulated lifecycle to support decision-making is a resolution to replace physical prototype. A temporal database will be formulated to populate all of the necessary properties of a virtual building for archiving, retrieving, processing and producing building artifacts/documents fast and efficiently. A demonstrator at low-medium cost will be developed for public access in a distributed environment to enable consistent evaluation from the participated end users.
The web service paradigm is a promising technology for developing applications in open, distributed and heterogeneous environments. The proliferation of this new technology has coincided with significant advances in the hardware and software capabilities of mobile devices. Due to the great benefits that come with the web service technology, such as interoperability, dynamic service discovery and reusability, there is a strong interest in making mobile devices capable of providing and consuming web services over wireless networks. This paper describes several scenarios of using web services in mobile devices and identifies their advantages, issues and challenges.
Web Services will transform the web from a collection of information into a distributed device of computation. In order to employ their full potential, appropriate description means for web services need to be developed. For this purpose we define a full-fledged Web Service Modeling Framework (WSMF) that provides the appropriate conceptual model for developing and describing web services and their composition. Its philosophy is based on the following principle: maximal de-coupling complemented by scalable mediation service.
Many related software applications can be employed at various stages of a project, at different locations and for disparate purposes. Integrating these tools can help extend the capabilities of individual software applications. This paper addresses some of the issues related to the integration of distributed software applications as Web services. Specifically, information modeling for project management applications and communication mechanisms are examined. Process Specification Language (PSL) is employed as the information modeling language. The implementation efforts required towards the development of an integrated service architecture are discussed. A variety of project management tools, including Primavera Project Planner TM , Microsoft Project TM , Vite SimVison TM and Microsoft Excel TM , are employed as a demonstration of the distributed integration infrastructure.
This paper describes the concept of sensor networks which has been made viable by the convergence of micro-electro-mechanical systems technology, wireless communications and digital electronics. First, the sensing tasks and the potential sensor networks applications are explored, and a review of factors influencing the design of sensor networks is provided. Then, the communication architecture for sensor networks is outlined, and the algorithms and protocols developed for each layer in the literature are explored. Open research issues for the realization of sensor networks are also discussed.
This paper presents a wearable groupware system designed to enhance the communication and cooperation of highly mobile network technicians. It provides technicians in the field with the capabilities for real‐time audio‐conferencing, transmission of video images back to the office, and context‐sensitive access to a shared notebook. An infrared location‐tracking device allows for the automatic retrieval of notebook entries depending on the user's current location.
This document describes a new architecture that exploits semantic Web technologies for supporting pervasive context-aware systems. This architecture called context broker architecture (CobrA) differs from other architectures in using the Web ontology language OWL for modelling ontologies of context and for supporting context reasoning. Central to our architecture is a broker agent that maintains a shared model of context for all computing entities in the space and enforces the privacy policies defined by the users when sharing their contextual information. We describe the use of CoBrA, its associated ontologies, and its privacy protection mechanism in an intelligent meeting room prototype.
The paper describes work carried out as part of the GUIDE project at Lancaster University. The overall aim of the project is to develop a context-sensitive tourist guide for visitors to the city of Lancaster. Visitors are equipped with portable GUIDE units which in turn provide interactive services and dynamically tailored Web based information, reflecting the visitor's preferences and environmental context. In contrast to existing tourist systems, all information in GUIDE is obtained dynamically using a city-wide wireless network infrastructure. We focus on the design of the GUIDE information model. The model presented is novel by virtue of the fact that it enables both geographic and contextual information to be captured. The paper also describes our development of an efficient broadcast mechanism which enables visitors' requests for information to be serviced quickly despite the wireless communications infrastructure employed
Museums are excellent locations for testing ubiquitous systems; the Exploratorium in San Francisco offers a unique and challenging environment for just such a system. An important design consideration is how users switch between virtual and physical interactions.
This document describes a new architecture that exploits Semantic Web technologies for supporting pervasive context-aware systems. This architecture called Context Broker Architecture (CoBrA) differs from other architectures in using the Web Ontology Language OWL for modeling ontologies of context and for supporting context reasoning. Central to our architecture is a broker agent that maintains a shared model of context for all computing entities in the space and enforces the privacy policies defined by the users when sharing their contextual information. We describe the use of CoBrA, its associated ontologies, and its privacy protection mechanism in an intelligent meeting room prototype.
We present the Cyberguide project, in which we are building prototypes of a mobile context-aware tour guide that provide information to a tourist based on knowledge of position and orientation. We describe features of existing Cyberguide prototypes and discuss research issues that have emerged in our context-aware applications development in a mobile environment. Keywords: Mobile computing applications, contextawareness, location-dependent applications, hand-held devices 1 Introduction The project we report on in this paper, Cyberguide, has as its main focus the rapid prototyping of handheld mobile applications in order to assess the utility of context-awareness in mobile devices. The challenge we are addressing in Cyberguide is how to build mobile applications that make use of the context of the user. Initially, we are concerned with only a small part of the user's context, specifically location and orientation. The application which drives the development of Cyberguide is a that of ...
This paper reports on the COSMOS system which provides an integrated "COnstruction Sites Mobile Operations Support" solution by means of wireless networks as well as technical and business applications designed for mobile use. Since remote construction sites are often not easily reached by terrestrial communication paths, a satellite link is established between the company headquarters and the site. A special network protocol deployed between the satellite gateways helps to overcome the known issues with TCP over long-delay links. Within the site, network coverage is provided by wireless LANs, including a Hiperlan-1 backbone with attached 2.4GHz-based cells, along with a DECT data network. The COSMOS client-server applications support the work of managers and engineers at the construction site by giving access to business and technical data, such as technical drawings centrally stored at the headquarters. For reasons of cost (satellite link) or due to a difficult radio environment at the site, disconnections may occur. Therefore, the applications are prepared for various degrees of offline operation by data caching and replication strategies. The COSMOS middleware is responsible for their adaptation to the satellite and mobile infrastructure and provides network management and monitoring.
Location and time independent interaction and collaboration among the multidisciplinary competencies within a construction project is crucial to the success of the construction projects. Existing information and communication technologies (ICTs) have done much to address these interaction issues and provide an appropriate collaboration infrastructure when face-to-face meetings are impossible, expensive difficult or simply inconvenient. However these systems still do not adequately meet the requirements of site-based team members and busy mobile project team members. Emerging technologies such as 3G wireless devices and the Semantic Web have the potential to overcome the current shortcomings of ICTs in terms of supporting mobile project team members. This paper reviews these technologies and describes the potential for the future application of 3G wireless and Semantic Web technologies within the construction sector, particularly in the creation of a Web of Construction Knowledge and Services. It concludes (from a global perspective) that the use of Semantic Web technologies will in future offer considerable benefits in terms of project management, knowledge management, supply chain management, integration of distributed applications and services and improved efficiency of construction project delivery.
This papers presents the development of Knowledge Management (KM) environment, e-CKMI, tailored the Building and Construction (BC) sector in Europe. The e-CKMI is a Web-centred and ontology-enabled solution that has been implemented following the Web services model. The functional, architectural, and technical requirements adopted to guide the development of the e- CKMI design and implementation were developed based on input from a number of leading construction organizations. This paper devotes special attention to the ontology-related matters in e-CKMI, including guidelines, methodology, and the incorporation of already existing taxonomies and product models into the ontology. Additionally, both technical and technological choices adopted in e-CKMI are discussed as well as the current status of the e-CKMI implementation including the integration with the end users application. Future steps in the e- COGNOS development conclude this work
Specialized elements of hardware and software, connected by wires, radio waves and infrared, will be so ubiquitous that no one will notice their presence.
The proliferation of mobile devices has refocused interest on location-information exploiting applications. The most prominent problems are the support of devices with widely varying computing and user interface capabilities and a programming model, which promotes the development of location-based services. The article presents the concepts and implementation of MUSA-Shadow, which addresses both issues through a service infrastructure that provides high-level programming abstraction for the development of location-based applications. Furthermore the system introduces novel concepts for user/service interaction via adaptable event graphs and implicit location information via mobile agents.
Mobile and wireless computers are rapidly becoming popular with the general public. In our research we design and evaluate new types of applications that take advantage of the unique characteristics of these devices in novel ways. One of these applications is Graffiti, a context-aware device designed using ideas from social navigation research. This system allows users to collectively define what's relevant and interesting about a location by posting electronic notes. Users encountered a variety of benefits and problems in using Graffiti primarily related to the reliance of the system on user contributions.
The scattered field of Gaussian beam scattering from arbitrarily shaped dielectric objects with rough surfaces is investigated for optical and infrared frequencies by using the plane wave spectrum method and the Kirchhoff approximation, and the formulae for the coherent and incoherent scattering cross sections are obtained theoretically based on geometrical optics and tangent plane approximations. The infrared laser scattering cross sections of a rough sphere are calculated at 1.06 µm, and the influence of the beam size is analysed numerically. It is shown that when the beam size is much larger than the size of the object, the results in this paper will be close to those of an incident plane wave.
Many ontology standards, such as STEP, ifcXML, aecXML and PSL, have been proposed for the A/E/C industries. Different ontologies exist and they have many advantages for information exchange within specific domain applications. However, the existence of different ontologies may cause many interoperability issues. For example, while PSL, ifcXML and aecXML all have provisions related to project management and scheduling information, an aecXML-compatible or ifcXML-compatible application cannot directly exchange information with a PSL-compatible application. In this paper, we address this information exchange problem by building translators among PSL, ifcXML and aecXML in the project scheduling domain. We examine the ontology mapping among PSL, ifcXML and aecXML, and compare their expressive power. Using the parsers and translators developed, we successfully demonstrate the information exchange among PSL, ifcXML and aecXML for various projects.
This paper is concerned with developing personal computing aids for the mobile fieldworker. A description of mobile computing and context-aware technology is given, suggesting how hand-held computing devices that are aware of various factors of their users environment (such as location) could be helpful. In particular, the concept of a stick-e note is introduced as a general-purpose context-aware technology that we have developed. The needs of fieldworkers and the suitability of stick-e note technology to their tasks is addressed, and a number of areas where stick-e note technology could help are identified. The design of a prototypical sticke-e note system that attempts to meet these needs is introduced and an account given of an extensive trial of this prototype in assisting in a behavioural study of giraffe in Kenya.
For many years, the walkie-talkie has been synonymous with the construction industry. During jobsite project execution, there are three variables which can either hinder or facilitate successful results, namely, quality, quantity, and timing of information. Wireless data communications technology is capable of delivering just-in-time information within the `last mile' between the trailer and a desired location on the jobsite. This paper reports on a study which surveyed information needs at the jobsite, emerging wireless data communications technology, and assessed the extent to which wireless data technology can fulfill the information needs of the jobsite [J.M. de la Garza, I. Howitt, Wireless communication and computing at the jobsite, Research Report 136-11, Construction Industry Institute, Austin, TX, 1997]. We have organized jobsite information needs into the following ten categories: (a) requests for information, (b) materials management, (c) equipment management, (d) cost management, (e) schedule and means and methods, (f) jobsite record keeping, (g) submittals, (h) safety, (i) QC/QA, and (k) future trends. Each category was analyzed in terms of its appropriateness to take advantage of wireless technology. The four formats considered to transmit information wirelessly were: (a) live voice, (b) live video, (c) batched data, and (d) live data. Current wireless communication technology has been classified into the following five classes: (a) circuit-switched wireless data systems, (b) packet-switched wireless data systems—this class was further subdivided into specialized mobile radio systems and cellular digital packet data systems, (c) wireless local area networks, (d) paging systems, and (e) satellite-based data communications. A primer for wireless communications covering both fundamental and advanced communications concepts has also been included to enable a better understanding of the issues involved in making trade-offs while configuring a wireless jobsite communication system. The example presented in this paper shows how a contractor can define a subset of information needs by choosing from those already articulated herein and determine if a given wireless technology should even be considered as a viable way of meeting the information needs that such company has.
This paper provides an overview of the research and development of multi-agent systems (MAS) in construction. It identifies the key issues in the development and deployment of agent-based systems, and indicates how these issues should be addressed in the construction domain. To do so, this paper first reviews the notions of MAS; discusses agent collaboration mechanisms, and highlights the advantages that MAS could provide to collaborative engineering activities. It then discusses the MAS models developed for different construction problems where agents interact in various ways to solve construction problems. Finally, a number of important issues in the application of agent-based approaches in construction (e.g., potential application areas, development method, and difficulties) are outlined and further analysed.
In a nomadic environment a user may access same services as she wouldusing her desktop computer, but she couldd o so anywhere,
at any time and even using a variety different kinds of devices. This kind of environment places new challenges on the architecture
implementing the services, because a set of parameters, such as different kinds of mobile networks, varying Quality of Service,
characteristics andlimitations of the mobile device and the user’s location, have to be taken into account. In this paper
we present an architecture, which addresses these issues. We have implementedthe architecture as a multi-agent system, which
consists of middle-agents specialized in monitoring and controlling network connections, content adaptation based on both
mobile device characteristics andthe QoS of the network connection anda scalable user interface, which supports multiple mobile
devices. Together these agents form a multi-agent system, which allows the services to adapt to the changes in the nomadic
environment.
Searching books in large libraries can be a difficult task for novice library users. This paper presents Smar tLibrary, a location-aware mobile library service demonstrated in the main library of the University of Oulu. The service provides map-based guidance to books and collections on a PDA. SmartLibrary is a completely software-based solution, which can be provisioned atop a WLAN installed for wireless Internet access, without any additional hardware. In a user evaluation conducted with over 30 patrons SmartLibrary was preferred over traditional shelf classification for finding books. After user evaluation the main library added SmartLibrary into their standard customer service.
: This paper discusses the user-centered location model used in comMotion. In this context, the location model refers to a set of learned places (destinations), which coincide to a latitude and a
longitude, that the user has categorized. It also includes knowledge of the routes between the destinations and the time it
takes to travel them. The model is based on user experience, i.e. his patterns of mobility, so no two models are the same.
We also discuss the pattern recognition models implemented for route learning, route prediction and estimation of time to
arrival.
The goal of the paper is to propose a way to make Web services
more convenient and efficient to use. We develop an architecture that
integrates mobile agents with Web services to achieve the goal. We first
survey the key technologies, which are adopted in the paper. Next, we
introduce our mobile Web service framework and describe how we take
advantage of the location information in the Web service. Finally, we
give an example to illustrate a typical scenario in which a mobile user
receives Web services from our proposed platform
This paper presents the E-CWE (E-Commerce through Wireless
dEvices) project. This project aims at investigating techniques and
offering solutions that could support stationary and mobile users in
secure wireless electronic commerce environments. In addition, the
verification and demonstration of the suitability of software agents in
these environments is discussed in this paper
We consider adaptation of content to various contextual details. The motivation for such adaptation results from the need for facilitating mobile users in their varying circumstances. The adaptation is based on a context ontology, which contains concepts for describing time, location, social aspects, and device characteristics. We briefly discuss a case-example of a personalized mobile portal demonstrating this contextual adaptability, and also include feedback from user trials.
The concept of an agent has become important in both Artificial Intelligence (AI) and mainstream computer science. Our aim in this paper is to point the reader at what we perceive to be the most important theoretical and practical issues associated with the design and construction of intelligent agents. For convenience, we divide these issues into three areas (though as the reader will see, the divisions are at times somewhat arbitrary). Agent theory is concerned with the question of what an agent is, and the use of mathematical formalisms for representing and reasoning about the properties of agents. Agent architectures can be thought of as software engineering models of agents; researchers in this area are primarily concerned with the problem of designing software or hardware systems that will satisfy the properties specified by agent theorists. Finally, agent languages are software systems for programming and experimenting with agents; these languages may embody principl...
. Currently computers are changing from single isolated devices to entry points into a world wide network of information exchange and business transactions called the World Wide Web (WWW). Therefore support in the exchange of data, information, and knowledge exchange is becoming the key issue in current computer technology. Ontologies provide a shared and common understanding of a domain that can be communicated between people and application systems. Therefore, they may play a major role in supporting information exchange processes in various areas. This book discusses the role ontologies will play in knowledge management and in electronic commerce. In addition, I show how arising web standards such as RDF and XML can be used as an underlying representation languages for ontologies. II III Preface ... February 2000 ??? IV Tab l e o f Con t en t s 1 Introduction 1 2 Ontologies 8 3 Application Area Knowledge Management 13 3.1 The pitfalls of current information sear...
Open agent environment for context aware m-commerce, Challenges in Open Agent Systems Workshop
- N Sadeh
- E Chan
- L Van
N. Sadeh, E. Chan, L. Van, Open agent environment for context aware m-commerce, Challenges in Open Agent Systems Workshop, (AMAS, 02), Bologna, Italy, 2002.
Tourists on the move, in Cooperative Information Agents VI, 6th International Workshop
- M Laukkanen
- H Helin
- H Laamanen
M. Laukkanen, H. Helin, H. Laamanen, Tourists on the move, in Cooperative Information Agents VI, 6th International Workshop, CIA 2002, Madrid, Spain, Proceedings, Volume 2446 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer, 2002 (July), pp. 36 – 50.
Will the computer ever replace the field notebook?
- D Morse
- J Pascoe
- N Ryan
- A Birkett
- K Pinkney
D. Morse, J. Pascoe, N. Ryan, A. Birkett, K. Pinkney, Will the computer ever replace the field notebook? British Ecological Society, Winter Meeting (1998).