ITcon Vol. 13, pg. 69-70, http://www.itcon.org/2008/5

Editorial - Sensors in Construction and Infrastructure Management

submitted:March 2008
published:April 2008
editor(s):Akinci B, Anumba C
authors:Dr. Burcu Akinci, Associate Professor
Civil and Environmental Eng. Department
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
email: bakinci@cmu.edu

Dr. Chimay Anumba, Professor and Head
Department of Architectural Engineering
The Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802
email: anumba@engr.psu.edu
summary:Construction project managers and infrastructure managers can benefit from utilizing a variety of sensors and wireless communication technologies on construction sites. Sensors are becoming an important item in construction project managers’ and infrastructure managers’ toolboxes. These sensors target getting relevant information about products that are being constructed, processes and equipment that are being utilized in constructing these products, and monitoring the as-is condition of an infrastructure throughout its service life. The nature of sensing can vary from embedded sensing that assesses some material characteristics of a product, to spatial sensing and imaging technologies that assess both the quality of products being constructed and the safety of processes being utilized during construction. Through the utilization of a wide array of sensors, both infrastructure components and processes of managing the construction and operations of those components can become intelligent, and as a result, project and infrastructure managers can have better situation awareness and can make more informed decisions. A variety of sensors is already being utilized on job sites and on infrastructure systems and it is expected that this trend is going to continue. Job sites and infrastructure systems are going to become more intelligent as sensing and wireless communication technologies get to be deployed ubiquitously. This special issue provides an opportunity to exchange ideas and research results to date in the area of sensing in construction and infrastructure management. It has brought together perspectives and research results obtained from usage of different types of sensors to streamline a variety of different decisions throughout the life-cycles of facilities and infrastructure. 
full text: (PDF file, 0.021 MB)
citation:Akinci B, Anumba C (2008). Editorial - Sensors in Construction and Infrastructure Management, ITcon Vol. 13, Special issue Sensors in Construction and Infrastructure Management, pg. 69-70, https://www.itcon.org/2008/5