Salman, A and Ahmad, W (2025) Implementation of augmented reality and mixed reality applications for smart facilities management: A systematic review. Smart and Sustainable Built Environment, 14(1), pp. 254-275. ISSN 2046-6099
Abstract
Purpose: The Operations and Maintenance (O&M) cost of a facility is typically 60–85% of the total life cycle cost of a building whereas its design and construction cost accounts for only 5–10%. Therefore, enhancing and optimizing the O&M of a facility is a crucial issue. In addition, with the increasing complexities in a building's operating systems, more technologically advanced solutions are required for proactively maintaining a facility. Thereby, a tool is needed which can optimize and reduce the cost of facility maintenance. One of the solutions is Augmented or Mixed Reality (AR/MR) technologies which can reduce repair time, training time and streamline inspections. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to establish contextual knowledge of AR/MR application in facilities operation and maintenance and present an implementation framework through the analysis and classification of articles published between 2015 and 2022. Design/methodology/approach: To effectively understand all AR/MR applications in facilities management (FM), a systematic literature review is performed. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) protocol was followed for searching and describing the search strategies. Keywords were identified through the concept mapping technique. The Scopus database and Google Scholar were employed to find relevant articles, books and conference papers. A thorough bibliometric analysis was conducted using VOS Viewer and subsequently, a thematic analysis was performed for the selected publications. Findings: The use of AR/MR within facilities O&M could be categorized into five different application areas: (1) visualization; (2) maintenance; (3) indoor localization and positioning; (4) information management and (5) indoor environment. After a thematic analysis of the literature, it was found that maintenance and indoor localization were the most frequently used research application domains. The chronological evolution of AR/MR in FM is also presented along with the origin of publications, which showed that the technology is out of its infancy stage and is ready for implementation. However, literature showed many challenges hindering this goal, that is (1) reluctance of the organizational leadership to bear the cost of hardware and trainings for the employees, (2) Lack of BIM use in FM and (3) system lagging, crashing and unable to register the real environment. A preliminary framework is presented to overcome these challenges. Originality/value: This study accommodates a variety of application domains within facilities O&M. The publications were systematically selected from the existing literature and then reviewed to exhibit various AR/MR applications to support FM. There have been no literature reviews that focus on AR and/or MR in the FM and this paper fills the gap by not only presenting its applications but also developing an implementation framework.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | applications; ar; augmented reality; facilities maintenance management; facilities management; indoor; literature review; mixed reality; mr; O&M; operation & maintenance |
| Index terms: | repair, design and construction, facilities management, systematic literature review, maintenance management, strategy, visualization, literature review, bibliometric analysis, crashing, complexity, publication, indoor environment, implementation, localization, evolution, thematic analysis, hardware, concept mapping, augmented reality, operation and maintenance, life cycle cost, meta-analysis, conference, methodology, inspection, database |
| Subjects: | computer hardware, data management, systems engineering, management, project controls, research evaluation and metrics, research dissemination and communication, urban planning, design practice, data analysis and analytics, quality assurance, research methods, visualization, maintenance engineering, methods and analysis, environmental science, decision analysis, contractual arrangements |
| Topics: | Design Practice, Governance, Risk Management, Information Management, Digital Applications, Quality Management, Sustainability, Engineering Principles, Time Control, Business Strategy, Procurement, Research Practice |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
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