ABSTRACT
In recent years, construction industries have experienced a significant rise in the uptake of visualization and automation technologies. These technologies have the potential of capturing real-time observations of construction sites to improve situational awareness of the project team. If these technologies are effectively integrated into the project delivery process, construction industries could realize significant improvements in the predictability and control of project outcomes, which are some of the key incentives derived from the concept of cyber-physical systems. While other industry sectors such as the manufacturing and automobile industries have successfully adopted cyber-physical systems, the concept has not gained much attention in the construction industry. Some of the benefits currently experienced by these industries include improvements in productivity, product quality, and workforce safety. One effective way of achieving similar benefits in the construction industry is by synergistically integrating virtual resources and the physical construction/constructed facility so as to achieve bi-directional coordination. Recent studies have demonstrated the potential of bi-directional coordination in the construction industry with applications in construction site layout and safety management, progress tracking, workforce training, as-built documentation, and building energy management. This chapter presents an overview of current efforts in academia that have leveraged bi-directional coordination between virtual resources and the physical construction/constructed facility for developing cyber-physical systems. It describes the triggers and requirements for cyber-physical system applications in construction. A system architecture that illustrates the key technologies and sub-systems needed for facilitating bi-directional coordination is presented. The chapter describes deployment scenarios to show the potential benefits of cyber-physical systems in construction. In conclusion, the authors present challenges and perceived barriers to the uptake of cyber-physical systems in the construction industry.
