Feasibility of Automated Monitoring of Lifting Equipment in Support of Project Control

TLDR

Construction sites, unlike permanent industrial plants, have traditionally lacked sophisticated monitoring systems due to their temporary nature, leading to manual, costly, and lagging tracking of progress, cost, and quality. This study aims to automate monitoring of lifting equipment to supply project managers with timely, actionable feedback, leveraging the ubiquity of machinery in material transport. A black‑box monitoring system integrated with an electronic building information model was designed and evaluated in a field study to assess its feasibility. Results show the system is technically viable and can provide real‑time, accurate project control information at very low cost.

Abstract

One of the differences between industrial manufacturing or processing plants and construction sites is the temporary nature of the construction site, which has traditionally precluded installation of sophisticated production monitoring systems. Monitoring of production progress, cost, and quality is performed almost exclusively manually, with the result that it is expensive and approximate, and is commonly delivered with a time lag that does not allow for an effectively closed control loop. Automated monitoring of construction lifting equipment to provide useful feedback information for project management is a strong potential candidate; almost all components and materials must be transported by machines, and monitoring of machines is relatively straightforward. A system concept, employing a "black box" monitor and an electronic building information model, was developed. A field study was conducted to test the feasibility of the concept. The results indicate that the system is technically feasible, and offers the potential to deliver real-time, accurate project control information at very low cost.