Methodology for automating the identification and localization of construction components on industrial projects

David Grau Torrent, Carlos H. Caldas

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

127 Scopus citations

Abstract

Even though engineered components, such as pipe spools and structural steel elements, generally account for a significant percentage of the total installed cost of an industrial project, current industry practices still rely on human ability to track thousands of these components individually after they are received at the job site. These site-tracking practices are inefficient and error prone. This paper presents an approach for automating the identification and localization of construction components on large industrial projects. The proposed approach combines advanced sensing devices and localization mechanisms. The appropriate combination of global positioning system and radio-frequency identification (RFID) facilitates an infrastructure-free data collection process capable of detecting a large number of RFID-tagged components in short amounts of time. Based on the collected data, localization mechanisms precisely estimate the coordinates of the tagged components. Field experiments on real construction scenarios demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed methodology.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)3-13
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of Computing in Civil Engineering
Volume23
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 12 2009
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Algorithms
  • Automation
  • Construction materials
  • Global positioning
  • Identification
  • Localization
  • Location
  • Sensors
  • Tracking

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Civil and Structural Engineering
  • Computer Science Applications

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