Experimental Assessment of Wireless Construction Technologies

Wireless technology offers a first efficient avenue to communicate data within a construction site in real time. This paper presents the integrated wireless site (IWS) concept that is based on a meshed communication network that not only reaches almost every location of a site but is also connected to the World Wide Web. Lessons learned from installing and evaluating wireless mobile and fixed video devices during ongoing construction are shared. The relevance of this study to both practitioners and researchers are the experimental field data that assert technical feasibility as well as a series of benefits such as reduced non-value-added activities, quick response to safety hazards, and automatic as-it-was-built for documentation and training. Equally important was the finding that the success of this technology in the long run depends on trust, collaboration, and information sharing among participants. Expanding the IWS by incorporating a semantic network that integrates individual equipment, tools, specialty devices, and construction personnel promises to provide the necessary incentives for a revolutionary change in the way construction resources communicate.