Building the Right Platform for Construction
Date Posted: October 9, 2019
Posted In: Ideas,
From Constructech: The complexity of connecting the jobsite has been a key reason why construction has historically been one of the least digitized industries. Because of the rigors of the jobsite—where a building’s footprint, layout, and dimensions can change on a daily basis—conventional connectivity technologies have been inadequate. They have been unable to effectively penetrate concrete and steel, or work within the power limitations of the jobsite.
Because of these challenges, many universally used technologies have been no match for the construction environment. GPS (global positioning systems) used for navigating in our everyday lives have difficulty identifying locations on the vertical plane or getting a signal in an area with tall buildings, a common requirement in urban settings. They also need a lot of power, which is in short supply on the jobsite.
Similarly, UWB (ultra-wide band) networks require a lot of bandwidth and power, do not perform well in short-range applications, and can only support a limited number of devices. Wi-Fi is not effective because of its distance and signal limitations. BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) can’t support a large number of devices, particularly if they are clustered closely together in a typical jobsite set up.
A scalable, robust network for construction
It’s become clear that in order to bring digitization to the jobsite, contractors and service providers had to take an innovative new approach. Since traditional approaches are inadequate, the way to achieve connectivity and visibility on the jobsite is to build a communication network from the ground up that can withstand the rigors, and unique requirements, of the jobsite. It has to have a communication frequency that can penetrate steel and concrete as well as be able to communicate across large distances—on both horizontal and vertical planes, indoors and out. It has to be able to scale with the jobsite and enable tens of thousands of devices to be connected and function reliably, all at the same time. Hardware requirements must be minimal and devices must be able to function well in low power environments. And, network connectivity must be secure and, at the same time, enable different tools in the ecosystem to be easily connected and integrated, so contractors can benefit from synergistic capabilities and greater value.