Sensor Acquisition and Allocation for Real-Time Monitoring of Articulated Construction Equipment in Digital Twins

Abstract

The visibility available to an equipment operator on a dynamic construction site can often be blocked by various obstacles such as materials, temporary or permanent facilities, other equipment, and workers. Equipment monitoring in real-time digital twins can thus play a crucial role in accident prevention. This paper develops a scalable technical approach and presents a prototype application framework for transmitting real world sensor data to update 3D equipment models inside a graphical digital twin for concurrent visualization of a monitored construction operation. The developed framework and workflow can be extended to visualize any construction operation, as it occurs, inside a dynamic 3D world simply by outfitting the real equipment with appropriate sensors and connecting them to their virtual counterparts. The implemented proof-of-concept interface is described in the context of a real-time 3D digital twin for assisting excavator operators prevent unintended strikes with underground utilities. Experiments to validate the proposed technical approach by simulating the real-time motion of a backhoe loader’s articulated arm using orientation sensors installed on its boom, stick, and bucket are described. The experimental results characterize the scope and potential reasons for spatio-temporal discrepancies that can occur between a monitored real operation and its replicated digital twin. The effect of an operator warning mechanism based on preset safety thresholds is also investigated and described.

A Review of Digital Twin Technologies for Enhanced Sustainability in the Construction Industry

“…Different types of sensors or monitoring devices are installed on various equipment, producing emissions to collect related data [81]. For example, gas sensors or thermal imaging devices can be used to count and monitor carbon emission concentrations, position sensors to collect the movement trajectories or positions of construction machinery, and devices to monitor the areas and times of buildings' heating and power supply [82]. The collected data are usually stored in the cloud, and most cloud systems have advanced data pre-processing capabilities, which can help categorize, clean, transform, and integrate various types of data.…”

A Real-Time Monitoring and Diagnosis Method of Production Line Conveyor Chain for Digital Twin

“…Talmaki Sanat A, has developed a scalable technical method to update the 3D equipment model in the graphic digital twin model, so as to carry out concurrent visualization of the monitored construction operations. Through simulation, we can find out the causes of the errors between models and objects [3]. Weixi Ren proposed a fault diagnosis method for wind turbine bearing based on digital twins to improve the accuracy and stability of fault diagnosis for wind turbine bearing, aiming at the problem of small number of bearing fault samples and low diagnostic accuracy [4].…”

Mitigating Measurement Inaccuracies in Digital Twins of Construction Machinery through Multi-Objective Optimization

“…Thus, optimization is necessary to reduce the boom’s weight and to improve the machine’s performance. Currently, physical assets can be digitally replicated and analyzed using digital twin technology [ 6 , 7 , 8 ]. This enables the performance analysis and optimization, scenario simulation, and outcome estimation of the intended model.…”