Use of the Internet of Things in the Construction Industry and Facility Management: Usage Examples Overview

Abstract

Internet of Things (IoT) represents an important area that is evolving rapidly in the context of digitalization efforts related to the Construction 4.0 era. This paper deals with the Internet of Things applications within the construction industry in selected phases of the facility's life cycle, namely the construction and operational phases. In particular, relevant examples of its use were collected, discussed and supplemented with several review papers on a given topic. Results of the analysis show that the potential of the Internet of Things usage is wide and varied in connection with the complexity of the construction projects and the long-term service life of the facilities. The concepts of the Internet of Things usage in the above-mentioned life cycle phases are mostly different focusing e.g., on quality, health and safety issues within the case of construction phase or smart concepts and energy management during the operational phase. Furthermore, one common theme was identified for both investigated phases of the life cycle, namely the interconnection of Building Information Modelling and the Internet of Things. It can be expected that the importance of such interconnection will continue to rise as construction projects implemented with the support of the Building Information Modelling become more and more common in the future.