Applications Of IoT In Construction
In this article, we will go over IoT applications used in building and other housing applications. We shall first look at how we can use IoT in constructing buildings and then look at eight unique applications of IoT in the construction sector. So buckle up, take notes, and read till the end of the article!
IoT Uses in Architecture
IoT is used in architecture to serve people and make their day-to-day life more manageable. IoT in buildings and other housing applications lies in various systems that link, monitor, and regulate our data, as they can provide solutions in many fields of both design and practice.
With the construction industry changing rapidly, several construction companies are adopting technology to address common workplace concerns and streamline processes. As a result, it increases efficiencies and improves responsiveness to the increasing demands of the industry.
Construction companies must consider using IoT technology in construction because of low productivity, decreased margins, more schedule overruns, increased competition, and many more. Let us look at some applications of IoT in the construction sector.
1. Productivity
We all know that deadlines and targets condition the construction industry. However, it is also mandatory to avoid backlogs as they result in budget increases. This is where IoT comes to help, as it increases efficiency and productivity.
By using IoT, people can take more time interacting with project owners and amongst themselves to generate new ideas to improve project delivery and customer satisfaction.
The supply is fitted with various IoT sensors that determine the quantity, make automatic orders, or raise alarms. It avoids the late supply of materials that often occurs at the site due to poor scheduling caused by human error.
2. Maintenance
If we don’t have proper management, power and fuel will be wasted, impacting the project’s overall cost. However, with real-time information provided by IoT devices, we can know the status of every asset, schedule maintenance stops or refuelling, and turn off idle equipment.
Other IoT field sensors also help monitor materials’ condition, including the suitability of the temperature or humidity of the environment, handling issues, damage, and expiration.
IoT also helps reduce warranty claims, prevent problems from happening, keep customers happy, send notifications for decreasing stocks, monitor materials, send real-time data on machinery, and handle other issues like expiration, damage, environment, etc.
3. Curing concrete
We all know that curing concrete is a very common job in construction, and IoT is now helping even that! These sensors are immersed in concrete during casting. These sensors follow the curing of concrete in real time, allowing the construction manager to monitor and plan their schedules.
4. Monitoring waste management
On a modern construction site, managing waste is a very critical consideration. In addition, waste management is crucial in reducing the construction sector’s carbon footprint.
Thus monitoring waste management is crucial to immediately clean trash and junk materials on a job site to create space and reduce hazards. It is possible in a cost-effective method by using IoT devices.
IoT devices and sensors are also used in monitoring structural health, where they detect vibrations, and cracks and monitor conditions of critical building members and civil structures during and after construction.
5. Autonomous vehicles
UAVs and autonomous vehicles in the construction sector have been growing exponentially. These vehicles surveil and monitor huge construction projects spread across huge spaces. In addition, several companies are developing and testing autonomous dump trucks and excavators to limit exposure of human life to unsafe work situations.
Some examples include Volvo trucks, Komatsu, and autonomous TMA trucks. These machines avoid manual tracking of the condition and location of critical equipment at a construction site, which is both time-consuming and prone to human error.
Today, even drones are being deployed into the construction industry to gather accurate survey maps and aerial images of a job site and track progress remotely, saving on a project’s time and cost. These ariel images captured from UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) give project managers a different perspective on the project and help discover possible issues that may not have been noticed from the ground.
6. Safety and Security
We all know that safety and security are the top priority in the construction sector, and even human security agents cannot properly monitor a vast site. So IoT-enabled tags are being used to improve security, as these sensors will notify the current location of the materials or items.
IoT devices significantly contribute to workers’ safety as they create a digital real-time job site map. The map includes updated risks associated with the work and notifies every worker when getting closer to any risk or entering a dangerous environment.
7. Wearables
To extend the aspect of security, construction companies are now encouraging the use of wearable IoT devices to monitor workers’ health and vitals regularly. However, these wearables are mostly used on machines to monitor performance levels.
These wearable IoT devices also monitor operating conditions, physical states, or other data through connectivity is what drives IoT. In a nutshell, a wearable is any item worn on the body to provide additional information to the user through connectivity.
8. BIM optimisation
BIM is “Building Information Modelling, ” a process that helps create and manage information for a built asset throughout its lifecycle. It covers everything from planning and designing to construction and operations.
BIM can be optimised through generative design, prediction of cost overruns using appropriate features, and risk mitigation by identifying the most significant risk factors on a job site. Some other ways to optimise BIM include autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles, labour deployment optimisation, off-site construction post-construction, and more.
How does IoT help in optimising BIM? The real-time data produced by IoT devices combined with historical data from other projects can be used to monitor current job sites and provide an ever-increasing dataset. Furthermore, this dataset can be used with machine learning to do predictive analytics, making construction even smarter.
9. Resource management and budgeting
Most big companies find it hard to manage budget and end up crossing it. This is mostly resources are not handled in line with their true worth, workers are idle, and the true value of the use of rented equipment is not correctly assessed.
IoT can play a very crucial role as it can assist real-time business owners in tracking and generating a clear plan of complex budgeting in a single step. IoT helps in assisting in making plans by keeping track of available resources and ensuring that their maximum benefit is realized without wasting them.
10. Structural Health monitoring
Another amazing application of the Internet of Things in the construction industry is in structural health monitoring to detect vibrations, cracks and conditions of critical building members and civil structures during and after construction.
These are only a few scenarios and fields where the construction industry uses and can use IoT for building safely and efficiently. However, there are countless more examples where we can use IoT in construction.
Summary
You have now learned eight amazing applications in the construction sector. In this article, we have seen ten mind-boggling examples, like improving productivity, curing concrete, optimising BIM, improving safety and security, maintenance, autonomous construction vehicles, and more.