ISBN: 978-981-18-5852-9 DOI: 10.18178/wcse.2022.04.092
Design and Validation of an Internet of Things (IoT) Based Architecture for the Construction Industry
Abstract— Logistics plays a significant role in construction projects. However, same as other processes in this industry, it is poorly digitalized and automated. Internet of Things (IoT) has been proved to be a good solution for digitization and automation in many industrial cases, but its potential in the construction industry is not fully exploited. This paper aims to conceptualize a cloud-based IoT architecture to meet the requirements of involved parties in construction logistics. The requirements include using diverse IoT systems and implementing real-time communication between devices and machines with OPC Unified Architecture (OPC-UA). As validation, the architecture is implemented in the Microsoft Azure infrastructure with use cases of IoT devices and OPC-UA devices. A concept of Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) is also implemented to ensure the data security. Based on this architecture, construction logistics can be digitalized through various IoT technologies with data consistency, security, and flexibility, thus increasing the workflows efficiency in the construction industry.
Index Terms— Architecture; IoT; OPC-UA; Role-Based Access Control; Digitization; Construction Logistics; Microsoft Azure.
Zhen Cai
School of Engineering and Design, Technical University of Munich, Garching/Munich, Germany
Deniz Etkar
Department of Informatics, Technical University of Munich, Garching/Munich, Germany
Stephan Kessler
School of Engineering and Design, Technical University of Munich, Garching/Munich, Germany
Johannes Fottner
School of Engineering and Design, Technical University of Munich, Garching/Munich, Germany
Cite: Zhen Cai, Deniz Etkar, Stehpan Kessler, Johannes Fottner, " Design and Validation of an Internet of Things (IoT) Based Architecture for the Construction Industry, " WCSE 2022 Spring Event: 2022 9th International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Applications, pp. 779-787, Sanya, China, April 15-18, 2022.