Blockchain-Enabled IoT-BIM Platform for Supply Chain Management in Modular Construction
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 148, Issue 2
Abstract
Configuring a trustworthy Internet of Things (IoT)–enabled building information modeling (BIM) platform (IBP) is significant for modular construction to ensure transparency, traceability, and immutability throughout its fragmented supply chain management. However, most current IBPs are designed adopting a centralized system architecture, which fails to achieve a decentralized and effective one to ensure a single point of truth in BIM and prevent a single point of failure in IoT networks. To address this challenge, this study introduces permissioned blockchain with IBP and proposes a novel service-oriented system architecture of blockchain-enabled IoT-BIM platform (BIBP) for the data-information-knowledge (DIK)–driven supply chain management in modular construction. First, infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is designed with hardware, core technologies, and protocols to offer accurate data from daily practice to blockchain BIM. Blockchain BIM as a service (BaaS) is then developed within the permissioned blockchain to ease the interoperability of the information, semantics, and meaningful inferences. Furthermore, software as a service (SaaS) is configured with decentralized applications to achieve knowledgeable operations or processes with a crash fault-tolerant consensus mechanism. The demonstrative case study in a modular student residence project evaluates the proposed BIBP system prototype with the performance analysis of storage cost, throughput, latency, privacy, and feedback from stakeholders. The results indicate that BIBP has an effective system architecture with acceptable throughput and latency, can save storage costs to achieve a single point of truth in BIM, and avoid a single point of failure for IoT networks with privacy and security-preserving mechanisms.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or codes that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The work presented in this paper was financially supported by the Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) with the Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) (No. ITP/029/20LP). This funding source had no role in the design and conduction of this study. The first author also gratefully acknowledges RGC postdoctoral fellowships from the Research Grants Council, Hong Kong.
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Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 148 • Issue 2 • February 2022
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© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Jun 29, 2021
Accepted: Oct 7, 2021
Published online: Nov 24, 2021
Published in print: Feb 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Apr 24, 2022
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