Cost-Benefit Analysis of Embedded Sensor System for Construction Materials Tracking
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 135, Issue 5
Abstract
Tracking and monitoring the location of materials on a construction job site is an important, yet commonly overlooked aspect of field data acquisition because timely information about the status of materials, equipment, tools, and labor resources are directly related to the successful completion of a project. With the advanced technologies and innovations in the construction industry, it has become technically viable to implement automated tracking for construction materials. Through the development of an embedded sensor system, this paper illustrates the implementation of pilot experiments examining the accuracy of a system’s performance. A cost-benefit analysis is conducted to illustrate labor savings associated with construction materials handling by comparison between manual and sensor-based materials tracking. The presented embedded sensor system can be extended into diverse application areas in tracking and monitoring framework by providing improved method of field data acquisition and information management.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
Support provided by the Building and Fire Research Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology,NIST Gaithersburg, Md., for the conduct of the sensor network experiment described in this paper is gratefully acknowledged.
References
Bell, L. C., and Stukhart, G. (1986). “Attributes of materials management systems.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 112(1), 14–21.
Bell, L. C., and Stukhart, G. (1987). “Costs and benefits of materials management systems.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 113(3), 222–234.
Bernold, L. (1990). “Testing bar-code technology in construction environment.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 116(4), 643–655.
Business Roundtable. (1982). “Modern management systems.” Construction Industry Cost Effectiveness Rep. No. A-6.
Cheng, M. Y., and Chen, J. C. (2002). “Integrating barcode and GIS for monitoring construction process.” Autom. Constr., 11(1), 23–33.
Cheok, G. S., Lipman, R. R., Witzgall, C., Bernal, J., and Stone, W. C. (2000). “NIST construction automation program No. 4: Non-intrusive scanning technology for construction status determination.” NISTIR 6457, BFRL, NIST, Gaithersburg, Md.
Egan, D. (2005). “The emergence of ZigBee in building automation and industrial controls.” Comput. Control Eng. J., 16(2), 14–19.
Ergen, E., Akinci, B., and Sacks, R. (2007). “Tracking and locating components in a precast storage yard utilizing radio frequency identification technology and GPS.” Autom. Constr., 16(3), 354–367.
Futcher, K. G. (2001). “User survey on a WAN portfolio M.I.S. used for portfolio/project management in Hong Kong.” Proc., IT in Construction in Africa, 1–14.
Jaselskis, E. J., and El-Misalami, T. (2003). “Implementing radio frequency identification in the construction process.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 129(6), 680–688.
Kechine, M. O., Tiberius, C. C. J. M., and van der Marel, H. (2003). “Network differential GPS: Kinematic positioning with NASA’s internet-based global differential GPS.” J. Global Positioning Systems, CPGPS, 2(2), 139–143.
Lee, S., Arif, A. U., and Jang, H. (2004). “Quantified benefit of implementing enterprise resource planning through process simulation.” Can. J. Civ. Eng., 31(2), 263–271.
Levis, P., and Culler, D. (2002). “Moté: A tiny virtual machine for sensor networks.” Proc., 10th Int. Conf. on Architectural Support for Programming Languages and Operating Systems (ASPLOS), 85–95.
McCullouch, B. (1997). “Automating field data collection on construction organizations.” Proc., Construction Congress V, 957–963.
Mohamadi, F. (2004). “A miniature reader/active tag streamlines supply chain management.” Tx/Rx technology, RF design magazine, 26–37.
Occupational outlook handbook. (2007). Construction Laborers, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Labor, ⟨www.bls.gov⟩ (Sept. 2007).
Song, J., Ergen, E., Haas, C. T., Akinci, B., and Caldas, C. (2006). “Automating the task of tracking the delivery and receipt of fabricated pipe spools in industrial projects.” Autom. Constr., 15(2), 166–177.
Umetani, T., Arai, T., Mae, Y., Inoue, K., and Maeda, J.-I. (2006). “Construction automation based on parts and packets unification.” Autom. Constr., 15(6), 777–784.
Yagi, J., Arai, E., and Arai, T. (2005). “Parts and packets unification radio frequency identification (RFID) application for construction.” Autom. Constr., 14(4), 477–490.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 135 • Issue 5 • May 2009
Pages: 378 - 386
Copyright
© 2009 ASCE.
History
Received: Dec 18, 2007
Accepted: Nov 14, 2008
Published online: May 1, 2009
Published in print: May 2009
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.