site plant equipment

Getting more from on-site plant equipment

By combining BIM with 4D scheduling and machine learning, Aquila is looking to improve construction site equipment utilisation in real time, as Andrew Johnson, Project Manager at BIM Academy, explains

In 2019 BIM Academy, in collabora- the construction phase – our research The need to deliver cost savings is tion with Buildstream, Costain and has proven this is achievable. a prominent feature in the development Northumbria University, conducted In addition, with the announcement ear- of Aquila, with the desire to remove addia feasibility study – code named lier this year that the UK has brought for- tional unnecessary project costs. Which SiteView – to research how combining ward laws to end its contribution to global is why it was essential to develop a BIM and 4D scheduling could improve warming by 2050, with the new target commercially, as well as technically, viathe sequencing, timing and operational now set at achieving a 78% reduction of ble solution. management of plant equipment on site. carbon emissions by 2035 – the pressure is The results were phenomenal, and subse- on to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to Plug and play quently BIM Academy was awarded net zero as quickly as possible. Aquila utilises simple, yet smart, plug Innovate UK funding in 2020 and the This means good practice of energy and play mobile technologies, rather than making of “Aquila” began. management on site, in addition to budget intrusive Internet of Things (IoT) instal-

To find the solution, first we needed to savings, is needed now more than ever. lation to sense equipment operation. address the problem. And the problem IoT refers to a system of interrelated, was poor utilisation of plant equipment Plant optimisation internet-connected objects that can colmeant unnecessary spending (it is esti- Aquila has been developed to optimise lect and transfer data over a wireless netmated poor utilisation of plant equip- plant equipment operations using real- work without human intervention. IoT ment is wasting up to £100bn globally time data. It will eliminate earthwork hardware is typically expensive and per year) and perhaps more importantly, this machinery spits out ‘‘ Aquila will eliminate earthwork estimations and installation is disruptive on operational plant activity. exceptionally high levels of emissions, having a negative impact on the automatically determine the plant and equipment’s productivity output through machine Real time feedback Most 4D tools currently environment (the con- learning algorithms in the platform available aim to be planstruction sector is responsible for around a fifth of all global emissions). Improved and estimations and automatically determine ’’ ning simulation tools, competing with more established Gannt tool/chart derived syssmarter analysis of plant equipment will the plant and equipment’s productivity tems which provide a visual view of tasks produce efficiency savings in both of output through machine learning algo- displayed against time. these areas, and more. rithms in the platform. This means no However, Aquila provides a real-time,

Plant equipment, particularly heavy more performance predictions, we can decision-enhancing platform where projearthmoving equipment such as excava- accurately set project schedules for plant ect teams can review what is happening tors, bulldozers and dump trucks repre- equipment, monitor and measure in-use, on site through a 4D model, predicting sent a major cost element in construction down-time and emissions output. Plus and controlling the impact of future projects ranging from 10% in a commer- take lessons learned from one project to schedules and generating new benchcial project, and up to 50% in major the next to maximise these efficiencies. mark datasets for future projects. infrastructure projects such as highways, The consequences of equipment down- A 4D model allows designers and projrailways and energy projects. time can be severe, ranging from delays in ect teams to visualise the project

The feasibility study investigated the a project caused by an unexpected break- sequencing, identify errors in the plan opportunity of improving productivity down to the inconvenience of idle equip- and optimise the best path of construcon site by 15% or more, by increasing ment taking up valuable space — all con- tion. It is also a better way of communiplant equipment utilisation throughout tributing to an overspend in project budget. cating the plan to the entire team.

Aquila’s further advancement in technology allows for each piece of equipment to be directly linked to the model, mapping its location. Data extracted from a vehicle tracker is then visualised within the model viewer, bringing all important information in one place.

Each vehicle will have a personalised Aquila tracker device that is given a unique reference. This will capture location, speed, idling time, harsh acceleration or braking, fuel consumption, vehicle faults, emissions output and more. Aquila can also link to third party telematic data.

At its core, this comprehensive telematic system will include a vehicle tracking device installed in each vehicle that allows the sending, receiving and storing of vehicle data. It connects via a mobile device installed in the vehicle, enabling communication through a wireless network.

The Aquila device collects GPS data as well as an array of other vehicle-specific data and transmits it via a satellite communication system to a centralised server in the Aquila platform. Aquila interprets the data and enables it to be displayed for project teams – all of which can be viewed on smartphones and tablets onsite. Data insight

When analysed, the mobile and third party telematics data can provide in-depth insights across an entire project fleet. This has resulted in the development of an intelligent, reactive web-based programme.

Using Vue.Js alongside the Autodesk Forge viewer, has given us the ability to have a reactive environment where a change on one part of the application shares its information with all other parts of the application, in real time.

If new data comes in via the trackers, the Aquila application can update itself, and re-process anything that needs to be changed visually as soon as that information is available.

One of the key aspects of any construction project is the programme of works, which decides where a given resource should be at any time and how long a task should take. Something that hasn’t been done before is linking a resource to a task and providing live and accurate data, which can be compared against the expected metrics of the programme of works.

The programme may expect that an excavator, for example, is working in a specific zone for, say five days, but the ultimate goal with Aquila is that you can see if that excavator is actually in that zone, for how long and is it doing the correct task.

We very quickly realised that the data requirements for the project were going to be highly complicated to manage, the potential for the amount of data to track and store could be huge. Therefore we needed to create a sophisticated, powerful backend system, to deal with all project data needs.

It was important for us to use mature standards for maximum reusability and flexibility. We use OpenAPI for our data endpoints, and GeoJSON and PostGIS for storing and managing locational data. These standards take real locations and tie the information to the project model, giving us the ability to accurately place the vehicle into the model.

It is clear Aquila is revolutionising the way we not only view, track and monitor plant equipment, but it offers a new digital process for saving time and cost on a project as well as contributing to sustainability goals.

Plant equipment is an essential part in any infrastructure or construction project and this new platform will change how we use these vehicles, optimising their performance for a smarter, greener future.

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