How the internet of things will impact the construction and civil engineering industry

The Internet of Things is a phrase that describes any objects or machine component equipped with sensors that can communicate with other machinery and AI directly - without human involvement. This enables them to communicate their operating conditions, performance levels and physical states, which in the construction industry may be referred to as telematics.

Many big scale manufacturers and engineering outlets are using this technology already, installing sensors across important components that will enable the measurement of things such as temperature, pressure, shaft speeds, vibration levels, oil level and much more. Jennings Builders and Civil Engineers North Wales pride themselves on efficiency - and the ideas from IoT are already creating brainwaves in and around their field.

How will this affect construction and civil engineering industries?

There are of course, many companies already using this somewhat unthinkable range of technology, but not necessarily shouting about it – as why would they want to broadcast their competitive advantage?

While the technology exists, much of the advanced ideas are under development and prototyping and would cost fortunes to implement, though some simple versions are in use. The likes of machine hour, fuel consumption, GPS tracking, and idle time among a number of others are still used, and allow measurement that leads to the correct tweaks and management to ensure an efficient process is maintained.

What does this mean?

Linking up to certain other machinery and software types allows you to view data, allowing interpretation of data and analytics, meaning there will be less downtime and more efficient processes. The ability to predict maintenance times over a measured period is undoubtedly a useful piece of knowledge.

What can it do for contractors within these industries?

Well it’s all down to working out how much more efficient these systems are going to make you – how much time and money you’ll save, along with how up to date you technology needs to be. You might be able to discover why one of your machines requires double the amount of fuel that another needs, which part of your application can be replaced at a later time among many more advantages.

The future is undoubtedly up to the imagination at the moment, and time scales could become incredibly quick. It won’t be long until your excavator is self-operating and can send relevant signals to your mobile phone to tell you when a part needs replacing! The following video from IBM is an excellent insight into the IoT!

Image from Pixabay - jeferrb
Video from IBM - YouTube