An Internet of Things-enabled BIM platform for on-site assembly services in prefabricated construction

Abstract

Building Information Modelling (BIM) serves as a useful tool in facilitating the on-site assembly services (OAS) of prefabricated construction for its benefits of powerful management of physical and functional digital presentations. However, the benefits of using BIM in the OAS of prefabricated construction cannot be cultivated with an incomplete, inaccurate, and untimely data exchange and lack of real-time visibility and traceability. To deal with these challenges, an Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled platform is designed by integrating IoT and BIM for prefabricated public housing projects in Hong Kong. The demands of the stakeholders were analysed; then smart construction objects (SCOs) and smart gateway are defined and designed to collect real-time data throughout the working processes of on-site assembly of prefabricated construction using the radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. The captured data is uploaded to cloud in real-time to process and analyse for decision support purposes for the involved site managers and workers. Visibility and traceability functions are developed with BIM and virtual reality (VR) technologies, through which managers can supervise the construction progress and approximate cost information in a real-time manner. The IoT-enabled platform can provide various decision support tools and services to different stakeholders, for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of daily operations, decision making, collaboration, and supervision throughout on-site assembly processes of prefabricated construction.