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1 – 10 of over 2000Saiedeh N. Razavi, Ali Montaser and Osama Moselhi
Location awareness is essential to decisions pertinent to tracking and progress reporting, as well as to safety in construction projects. However, these applications have been…
Abstract
Purpose
Location awareness is essential to decisions pertinent to tracking and progress reporting, as well as to safety in construction projects. However, these applications have been mostly limited to the outdoor environment, where satellites for positioning information are in view. Recent studies on indoor location sensing systems are now overcoming this limitation and offering significant potential on construction practices, and radio frequency identification (RFID) is the most widely utilised technology for such application. The purpose of this paper is to address a wide range of protocols that are vital for RFID deployment for indoor construction. The paper identifies deployment settings to provide data acquisition with higher accuracy for indoor location sensing in construction.
Design/methodology/approach
A computational platform was designed to assess and evaluate the most suitable condition related to deployment of reference tags in construction. In this platform, a number of protocols and parameters are presented and their performance is evaluated. The evaluation scenarios were performed on a construction facility in Montreal, as well as in a controlled lab environment. The computational platform used for the study comprises the use of passive reference RFID tags and K Nearest Neighbour algorithm (K‐NN) for course‐grained detection of target's location and its classification into pre‐defined zone areas.
Findings
The studies resulted in a number of observations, findings, and lessons learned for RFID deployment in construction. The results indicate that: the speed of the reader is in direct relationship with the detection error rate; zone configuration effectiveness is in direct relationship with the deployed RFID read‐range; error rate on the controlled environment is significantly lower than rates in construction site; and stationary reader performs better than moving reader.
Originality/value
The paper's findings are expected to be of considerable value to researchers and practitioners involved in the utilisation of RFID technology in construction. The paper provides a set of helpful protocols for the deployment of passive RFIDs for automated onsite management of construction operations.
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Long Niu, Sachio Saiki, Shinsuke Matsumoto and Masahide Nakamura
The purpose of this paper is to establish an application platform that addresses expensive development cost and effort of indoor location-aware application (InL-Apps) problems…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to establish an application platform that addresses expensive development cost and effort of indoor location-aware application (InL-Apps) problems caused by tightly coupling between InL-App and indoor positioning systems (IPSs).
Design/methodology/approach
To achieve this purpose, in this paper, the authors proposes a Web-based integration framework called Web-based Integration Framework for Indoor Location (WIF4InL). With a common data model, WIF4InL integrates indoor location data obtained from heterogeneous IPS. It then provides application-neutral application programming interface (API) for various InL-Apps.
Findings
The authors integrate two different IPS (RedPin and BluePin) using WIF4InL and conduct a comparative study which is based on sufficiency of essential capabilities of location-dependent queries among three systems: RedPin, BluePin and WIF4InL. WIF4InL supports more capabilities for the location-dependent queries. Through the data and operation integration, WIF4InL even enriches the existing proprietary IPS.
Originality/value
As WIF4InL allows the loose coupling between IPS and InL-Apps, it significantly improves reusability of indoor location information and operation.
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Zhe Wang, Xisheng Li, Xiaojuan Zhang, Yanru Bai and Chengcai Zheng
The purpose of this study is to use visual and inertial sensors to achieve real-time location. How to provide an accurate location has become a popular research topic in the field…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to use visual and inertial sensors to achieve real-time location. How to provide an accurate location has become a popular research topic in the field of indoor navigation. Although the complementarity of vision and inertia has been widely applied in indoor navigation, many problems remain, such as inertial sensor deviation calibration, unsynchronized visual and inertial data acquisition and large amount of stored data.
Design/methodology/approach
First, this study demonstrates that the vanishing point (VP) evaluation function improves the precision of extraction, and the nearest ground corner point (NGCP) of the adjacent frame is estimated by pre-integrating the inertial sensor. The Sequential Similarity Detection Algorithm (SSDA) and Random Sample Consensus (RANSAC) algorithms are adopted to accurately match the adjacent NGCP in the estimated region of interest. Second, the model of visual pose is established by using the parameters of the camera itself, VP and NGCP. The model of inertial pose is established by pre-integrating. Third, location is calculated by fusing the model of vision and inertia.
Findings
In this paper, a novel method is proposed to fuse visual and inertial sensor to locate indoor environment. The authors describe the building of an embedded hardware platform to the best of their knowledge and compare the result with a mature method and POSAV310.
Originality/value
This paper proposes a VP evaluation function that is used to extract the most advantages in the intersection of a plurality of parallel lines. To improve the extraction speed of adjacent frame, the authors first proposed fusing the NGCP of the current frame and the calibrated pre-integration to estimate the NGCP of the next frame. The visual pose model was established using extinction VP and NGCP, calibration of inertial sensor. This theory offers the linear processing equation of gyroscope and accelerometer by the model of visual and inertial pose.
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J. Ahmad, H. Larijani, R. Emmanuel, M. Mannion and A. Javed
Buildings use approximately 40% of global energy and are responsible for almost a third of the worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. They also utilise about 60% of the world’s…
Abstract
Buildings use approximately 40% of global energy and are responsible for almost a third of the worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. They also utilise about 60% of the world’s electricity. In the last decade, stringent building regulations have led to significant improvements in the quality of the thermal characteristics of many building envelopes. However, similar considerations have not been paid to the number and activities of occupants in a building, which play an increasingly important role in energy consumption, optimisation processes, and indoor air quality. More than 50% of the energy consumption could be saved in Demand Controlled Ventilation (DCV) if accurate information about the number of occupants is readily available (Mysen et al., 2005). But due to privacy concerns, designing a precise occupancy sensing/counting system is a highly challenging task. While several studies count the number of occupants in rooms/zones for the optimisation of energy consumption, insufficient information is available on the comparison, analysis and pros and cons of these occupancy estimation techniques. This paper provides a review of occupancy measurement techniques and also discusses research trends and challenges. Additionally, a novel privacy preserved occupancy monitoring solution is also proposed in this paper. Security analyses of the proposed scheme reveal that the new occupancy monitoring system is privacy preserved compared to other traditional schemes.
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Qingxiao Yu, Can Yuan, Z. Fu and Yanzheng Zhao
Recently, service robots have been widely used in various fields. The purpose of this paper is to design a restaurant service robot which could be applicable to provide basic…
Abstract
Purpose
Recently, service robots have been widely used in various fields. The purpose of this paper is to design a restaurant service robot which could be applicable to provide basic service, such as ordering, fetching and sending food, settlement and so on, for the customers in the robot restaurant.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on characteristics of wheeled mobile robots, the service robot with two manipulators is designed. Constrained by the DOF, the final positioning accuracy within ±3 cm must be guaranteed to successfully grasp the plate. Segmented positioning method is applied considering the positioning costs and accuracy requirement in the different stages, and the shape‐based matching tracking method is adopted to navigate the robot to the object.
Findings
Experiments indicate that the service robot could successfully grasp the plate, from wherever is its initial position; and the proposed algorithms could estimate the robot pose well and accurately evaluate the localization performance.
Research limitations/implications
At present, the service robot could only work in an indoor environment where there is steady illumination.
Practical implications
The service robot is applicable to provide basic service for the customers in the robot restaurant.
Originality/value
The paper gives us a concept of a restaurant service robot and its localization and navigation algorithms. The service robot could provide its real‐time coordinates and arrive at the object with ±2 cm positioning precision, from wherever is its initial position.
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Semih Dalgin and Ahmet Özgür Dogru
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of internal and external factors on the accuracy and consistency of the data provided by mobile-embedded…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of internal and external factors on the accuracy and consistency of the data provided by mobile-embedded micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) pressure sensors based on smartphones currently in use.
Design/methodology/approach
For this purpose, sensor type and smartphone model have been regarded as internal factors, whereas temperature, location and usage habits have been considered as external factors. These factors have been investigated by examining data sets provided by sensors from 14 different smartphones. In this context, internal factors have been analyzed by implementing accuracy assessment processes for three different smartphone models, whereas external factors have been evaluated by analyzing the line charts which present timely pressure changes.
Findings
The study outlined that the sensor data at different sources have different characteristics due to the affecting parameters. Even if the pressure sensors are used under similar circumstances, data of these sensors have inconsistencies because of the sensor drift originated by internal factors. This study concluded that it was not applicable to provide a common correction coefficient for pressure sensor data of each smartphone model. Therefore, relative data (pressure differences) should be taken into consideration rather than absolute data (pressure values) when developing mobile applications using sensor data.
Research limitations/implications
Results of this study can be used as the guideline for developing mobile applications using MEMS pressure sensors. One of the main finding of this paper is promoting the use of relative data (pressure differences) rather than absolute data (pressure values) when developing mobile applications using smartphone-embedded sensor data. This significant result was proved by examinations applied with in the study and can be applied by future research studies.
Originality/value
Existing studies mostly evaluate the use of MEMS pressure sensor data obtained from limited number of smartphone models. As each smartphone model has a specific technology, factors affecting the sensor performances should be identified and analyzed precisely in terms of smartphone models for providing extensive results. In this study, five smartphone models were used fractionally. In this context, they were used for examining the common effects of the factors, and detailed accuracy assessments were applied by using two high-tech smartphones in the market.
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Duncan Maxwell and Rachel Couper
Construction suffers from “peculiarities” that concern the temporary natures of the construction site, project teams and unique product design. Considering the digital…
Abstract
Purpose
Construction suffers from “peculiarities” that concern the temporary natures of the construction site, project teams and unique product design. Considering the digital transformation of construction, new solutions are being investigated that can provide consistent data between changing projects. One such source of data manifests in the tracking of logistics activities across the supply chain. Construction logistics is traditionally considered a site management activity focused solely on the “back end” of projects, but an expanded logistics focus can unlock new avenues of improvement. This study aims to understand the requirements and benefits of such a consistent thread of data.
Design/methodology/approach
From a research project with one of Australia’s largest contracting companies, this paper details a series of construction tracking tests as an empirical case study in using Bluetooth low energy aware tracking technology to capture data across the manufacture, delivery and assembly of a cross-laminated timber structural prototyping project.
Findings
The findings affirm the tracking of expanded logistics data can improve back-end performance in subsequent projects while also demonstrating the opportunity to inform a project’s unique front-end design phase. The case study demonstrates that as the reliability, range and battery life of tracking technologies improve, their incorporation into a broader range of construction activities provides invaluable data for improvement across projects.
Originality/value
As a live case study, this research offers unique insights into the potential of construction tracking to close the data loop from final site assembly back to the early project design phase, thus driving continual improvement from a holistic perspective.
The main purpose of this study is to present an overview of the state of the art of the RFID technology in terms of data storage approaches in construction cases, and to identify…
Abstract
Purpose
The main purpose of this study is to present an overview of the state of the art of the RFID technology in terms of data storage approaches in construction cases, and to identify the factors that require different approaches to data storage (e.g. on tags or on a remote database) in RFID applications in the construction industry.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature survey was conducted and the contexts of 37 construction industry cases were investigated to determine the factors that affect the decision of data storage approach and the types of information groups that were stored in each case. Additionally, 79 cases were reviewed from other industries to provide insights.
Findings
The literature review showed that, many cases in the construction industry preferred storing additional data on RFID tags such as identification, technical and historical information. The factors affecting the selection of data storage approach in RFID applications were identified: application environment, cost efficiency, multiple number of parties, need for monitoring up‐to‐date progress data, collecting environmental conditions, in situ (on‐board) data storage, industry‐related specifications, and reading range requirement.
Practical implications
The high proportion of cases which stored data on tags demonstrate that there is a need for tags/storage media that are specially designed for the construction industry because most tags currently have either minimum or limited memories.
Originality/value
The analysis of the investigated cases and the factors that were identified to be affecting the data storage approach decision making can assist construction practitioners and owners in selecting an appropriate data storage approach for their projects.
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Ala Al‐Fuqaha, Mohammed Elbes and Ammar Rayes
Outdoor localization is an important issue for many applications, such as autonomous mobile robotics and augmented reality. The purpose of this paper is to propose a budgeted…
Abstract
Purpose
Outdoor localization is an important issue for many applications, such as autonomous mobile robotics and augmented reality. The purpose of this paper is to propose a budgeted dynamic exclusion heuristic based on signal phase shifts from multiple base stations.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors also propose an outdoor localization technique based on the particle filter for data fusion and present an overview of a potential target application of the proposed outdoor localization approach for the blind and visually impaired (BVI).
Findings
The combination of multiple sensor data tends to overcome the drawbacks of using one sensor technology in the localization process.
Originality/value
The novelty of the proposed approach stems from its ability to fuse data collected from different sensor technologies to converge to more accurate position estimation.
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Grazia Cicirelli, Annalisa Milella and Donato Di Paola
The purpose of this paper is to address the use of passive RFID technology for the development of an autonomous surveillance robot. Passive RFID tags can be used for labelling…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to address the use of passive RFID technology for the development of an autonomous surveillance robot. Passive RFID tags can be used for labelling both valued objects and goal‐positions that the robot has to reach in order to inspect the surroundings. In addition, the robot can use RFID tags for navigational purposes, such as to keep track of its pose in the environment. Automatic tag position estimation is, therefore, a fundamental task in this context.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper proposes a supervised fuzzy inference system to learn the RFID sensor model; Then the obtained model is used by the tag localization algorithm. Each tag position is estimated as the most likely among a set of candidate locations.
Findings
The paper proves the feasibility of RFID technology in a mobile robotics context. The development of a RFID sensor model is first required in order to provide a functional relationship between the spatial attitude of the device and its responses. Then, the RFID device provided with this model can be successfully integrated in mobile robotics applications such as navigation, mapping and surveillance, just to mention a few.
Originality/value
The paper presents a novel approach to RFID sensor modelling using adaptive neuro‐fuzzy inference. The model uses both Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) and tag detection event in order to achieve better accuracy. In addition, a method for global tag localization is proposed. Experimental results prove the robustness and reliability of the proposed approach.
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