Song, J; Haas, C T and Caldas, C H (2006) Tracking the location of materials on construction job sites. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 132(9), pp. 911-918. ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
Automated tracking of materials on construction projects has the potential to both improve project performance and enable effortless derivation of project performance indicators. This paper presents an approach by which materials tagged with radio frequency identification (RFID) tags can be automatically identified and tracked on construction sites, without adding to regular site operations. Essentially, this approach leverages automatic reading of tagged materials by field supervisors or materials handling equipment that are equipped with a RFID reader and a global positioning system receiver. To assess the technical feasibility of this approach, a mathematical model has been formulated such that the job site is represented as a grid and the location of materials within the grid is determined by combining proximity reads from a discrete range. Field experiments were conducted using an off-the-shelf RFID technology, and several metrics were developed to quantify the field performance and compare it with the theoretical positional accuracy derived from the discrete formulation.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction materials |
| Index terms: | supervisor, construction material, site operation, project performance, radio frequency identification, construction project, construction site, experiment, accuracy, mathematical model |
| Subjects: | professional development, project management theory and practice, production management, mathematical modelling, data collection methods, practitioner, operations management, building materials, work location, digital technology |
| Topics: | Roles and Professions, Research Practice, Project Management, Information Management, Engineering Principles, Site Management, Digital Applications |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here