IoT is a blanket term that encompasses a vast array of web enabled smart devices.
Sensors are sensing environmental pressures or temperatures or even bio-metric changes in our bodies.
IoT devices connected to the internet not only capture a whole bunch of data from these sensors, but they can talk to each other and they give us insights about what to do next.
IoT and construction sites are identifying risks before they happen.
It could be anything from poor air quality on a floor to a worker getting too close to a piece of equipment. It could potentially increase safety.
One way is by using presence detection or detect an entity’s location to understand and indicate exactly where individual workers are or materials are or where equipment is and the belief here is that we could increase individual environmental awareness.
The Interest for Industrial IoT at construction sites is growing. There has been an increased enthusiasm just to get more data onto the site but data alone isn’t enough. What we need is real time actionable information.
In order to get actionable information more sensors and IoT devices on the site need to be deployed so that they can be embedded in materials.
Intelligent tools tell us how a drill is performing, or how a welding machine is exactly executing & what problem is occurring, to reduce cut practices through manual labor & optimize on efficiency.
Not only intelligent devices at a construction site, but throughout building operations to give us continued insights on how that building as a whole is performing.
If the site supervisor logs in for the start of his work day by turning on the ignition in his company truck.
The construction company can see him in his truck en-route to his current project.
His truck’s performance metrics, such as mileage and stops are recorded automatically for better fuel management.
Arriving at the job site, he is checked in automatically. His crew and sub-trades are notified that he is on site, so they can begin reporting to him.
The supervisor has access to the location of employees and heavy equipment at all time, further ensuring the safety of workers and preventing loss of valuable assets.
Tasks can be automated using digital forms connected to the back office of the supervisor’s construction company.
Workflows for deliveries, change orders, invoicing, scheduling, inspections and quality control are all optimized to keep the project on schedule and on budget.
This streamlines his admin work and daily record keeping.
Predictive analysis helps minimize downtime by tracking operating hours and analyzing usage of equipment notifying him and head office, of maintenance needs.
As his shift ends, a temporary portable security system around the perimeter of the site switches on.
It will alert him and his team to any motion after hours.
All ideas in this blog are to provide a visualisation scenario of the various and vast array of things that can be done with IoT, with intelligent edge devices connected to sensors.
Embeodos had an application to work on for embedding location monitoring devices in helmets, safety jackets & safety belts of on field site crew & engineers.
The application was to identify at a given point of time, the location of any person logged into the system.
Remote enable & disable of certain access areas was also asked for, during application design to ensure Role Based access to certain areas based on physical parameters.
The Site Dashboard would log this data and create a virtual map of entities that contain these intelligent devices.
It was an efficient application on safety & management geared towards construction facilities.
This application can be ported to any large scale industrial area, where worker visibility, safety and security is concerned. This application can also be extended to track & trace equipments as well.
The cost of acquiring data from 100 – 200 people on a construction site, + plus monitoring their movements in real time is high.
But comes with huge amounts of data with the sole purpose of generating actionable insights into optimizing operations & processes on the shop floor.
Companies should have an appetite of investing into data acquiring projects & solutions that will enable them to produce insights and solve problems a lot quicker than intuition & experience!
