IoT, Construction and Gafcon Digital’s “Smart Jobsite”
Snake Oil gets a bad rap.
Before it became a pejorative term it was an ointment high in fatty acids (from snakes!) that Chinese immigrants used to treat the pain of 19th century railroad laborers. Over time the medicinal properties were diluted by opportunistic grifters until it ceased to resemble the original product and eventually became a metaphor for all fraudulent panaceas. Nowadays, when technologists pitch their products to “make the world a better place” it can call to mind the traveling salesman of the 19th century peddling dusty medicine bottles to credulous frontier folk.
As innovation accelerates it becomes increasingly difficult to understand emerging technologies and new concepts, and to evaluate if they represent opportunity (see AWS), risk (see Blockbuster), or neither (see FTX). In the construction industry we have been quick to embrace advances in mechanical technologies, but have historically been a laggard when it comes to the digital ones.
Tech Innovation, Acceleration, and Convergence
Adoption of digital technologies in the construction industry often comes after they have been developed and matured in other industries. Tooey Courtemanche (the founder and CEO of Procore) thought “holy crap, I’ve been given a time machine” in 2002 when he started a SaaS construction management software after years as a software executive developing online applications. Autodesk coined the term “BIM” after acquiring Revit in 2002 and cited the manufacturing industry’s use of parametric database-driven design approaches and its transformational potential for architects and engineers. But industry acceptance can take a while: Procore took a decade to become a market leader. And as for Autodesk and “BIM”, Revit took almost two decades before it became more widely used than AutoCAD.
The adoption rate of new technologies is impacted by different constraints, some that have little to do with technology (e.g. culture, process, business models), and some that are impacted by trends related to different technologies. For example, Procore benefitted from the introduction and advance of mobile device technology (thank you Steve Jobs!) and Revit benefitted from improving computing processing power (thank you Moore’s Law!). Sometimes it is the acceleration and convergence of different technologies that creates the inflection point for adoption rates.
A good example of this is the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) and its application in the “Smart _____” concept: the Smart Home, Smart Building, Smart City, Smart Manufacturing, etc. IoT refers the rapidly growing digital network of (currently 16.7 billion) “things” in the physical world embedded with sensors and software and it includes the phone in your pocket, the HVAC systems in your office, the car you drive, and the television in your living room. The term originated in an RFID technology lab at MIT in 1999, but the concept dates back to a Coke machine at Carnegie Mellon in the early 80’s that would tell researchers when it needed to be refilled and whether the contents were cold. But only now, after we have “the internet”, with billions of networked devices that each have a billion-fold increase in computing power, with near infinite software code (now powered by AI!) can we have “Smart Vending Machines”: where your desired soda will always be stocked and you will never have to worry about creased dollar bills.
IoT + Construction Management = Opportunity
Construction jobsites are dynamic environments with many variables that impact project execution and success. It is difficult to get reliable insight into site conditions and activities that can impact quality, cost, schedule and safety. Additionally, most digital systems used to manage construction projects rely on manual processes to document what has already happened and only what has been observed. This leads to reactive decision making based on incomplete and often outdated information, which increases risk and inefficiencies throughout the construction process.
Internet of Things (IoT) technologies can provide a high-fidelity, real-time and holistic representation of reality on a jobsite. These IoT systems - especially when integrated with Project Management, BIM, geospatial, mixed reality and reality capture applications - can have a transformative effect on how construction projects are managed.
Most IoT systems implemented on construction projects are bundled (hardware + software) point solutions focused on narrow requirements (e.g. environmental conditions monitoring, equipment tracking) and provided by a single vendor. But as IoT technology improves and becomes more widely available there is an increasing demand for more integrated and sophisticated solutions. The hardware is increasingly commoditized and becoming more efficient to deploy, but the real challenge (and value!) is in integrating data from many different devices, providing actionable information, and optimizing project management processes.
Microsoft and AWS have platforms intended to address this complexity (Azure Digital Twins and AWS IoT TwinMaker respectively) by enabling organizations to build graphs and models that map and contextualize IoT devices and their related assets, systems and spaces. These are part of their IoT solution stacks and they integrate seamlessly with powerful services and platforms that manage data, perform analytics and integrate systems.
Autodesk has released a new digital twin platform called Tandem, which has features that allow users to visualize IoT telemetry data in a 3D model and dashboards. It is integrated with Revit (and other Autodesk platforms) and provide a User Interface and out of the box features familiar for project teams who use other Autodesk products.
These vendors rely on trusted partners to implement these platforms and can demonstrate examples of solutions for completed facilities and infrastructure. But until now none of them could show how these capabilities could be brought to bear on a construction project.
A “Smart” Jobsite
Gafcon Digital has developed a solution that uses AWS or Azure (depending on client preference) for construction site IoT data management and analytics, and Autodesk Tandem to provide IoT data integration and visualization capabilities leveraging project Building Information Models. This is a turnkey solution (hardware to insights) designed for project owners that is composable (modular and configurable to specific telemetry and reporting requirements) and can be deployed in their AWS/Azure infrastructure or in ours as a managed service.
The ”Smart Jobsite” allows project owners to manage performance, ensure quality and mitigate risk by:
Monitoring the environmental conditions of jobsite and the impact on construction activities
Monitoring the environmental impacts of the jobsite and the impact on existing facility operations
Managing an audit trail of critical site activity
Monitoring site access for security and safety purposes
Capturing and archiving video footage of the jobsite
It is implemented as a “Quick Start,” which means that it comes pre-configured to support integration and analytics related to a wide variety of IoT telemetry data, such as: temperature/humidity, water consumption, power consumption, vibration, noise, air quality, jobsite pressure, and security/access. We have developed automation tools that leverage BIM systems in the implementation process for IoT device layout, relationship mapping between devices and locations/assets, and the visualization of telemetry data on the project site.
Implementation Steps
Owner selects what they want to monitor on their job site using IoT systems based on a list we provide.
We use owner selections to create bundle of sensors and edge devices.
We provide layout of sensors and edge devices and procures necessary quantities from pre-approved hardware vendor partner.
We (or Contractor/Owner) install sensors and edge devices on site.
We prepare BIM and associated data for integration.
We deploy Azure or AWS IoT infrastructure using template architecture and automated processes.
We configure dashboards and data visualizations using templates for Owner approval.
We deploy the “Smart Jobsite” for use on project and maintain it for the duration of construction.
The next phase of development will be focused on integrating the solution with project management systems from Procore, Autodesk’s Construction Cloud, Kahua, Unifier Primavera and others. This will allow users to not only identify issues and potential risks, but also to initiate their resolution in workflows managed in the best-of-breed systems they are already using for construction management.
Ingredients for Success
The term “Smart” may seem overused and technology buyers should always check the label of new solutions being pushed on the market. But the value proposition of IoT and related technologies that have enabled its acceleration hold transformational potential for the delivery and management of construction projects.
For our clients, the “Smart Jobsite” allows them to efficiently implement IoT systems and deploy them securely and at scale - improving how they manage performance and risk across their capital program.