Digital technology is rooted in innovation and rapid development. To drive economic, environmental, cultural, and social performance, we need technologies that connect and advance our industry to achieve sustainable outcomes for our communities, employees, and organisations. Innovation is accelerating our progression towards truly smart asset management. This article explores the emerging technologies enabling our industry to sustainably create and manage infrastructure and property assets, driving efficiencies throughout the asset lifecycle.
These technologies aren’t necessarily new, however they’re at various stages of adoption and advancement, therefore remain emergent. For example, BIM has been around for decades, however less than half our industry has adopted it. IoT has been here since 2010, yet many aren’t leveraging outputs to the best potential, if at all. Some technologies won’t become mainstream as they continue to struggle with market creation, and some have such huge financial investment that many just can’t adopt them until they become commoditised.
Building Information Modelling (BIM) has become mainstream with the first few dimensions, or layers, with spatial, time, and cost data. It’s now at the tenth layer allowing us to model data on sustainability and safety, asset and facilities management, and lean and industrialised construction.
BIM has paved the way to 3D Modelling. Combining BIM data and 3D models with asset data produces powerful insights. Leveraging visualisation principles for vertical and horizontal infrastructure enables easy navigation and interaction with complex structures for asset management and maintenance activities.
Digital Twins enable us to create a digital replica of the built and natural environment. The power of this technology facilitates monitoring and optimisation of asset performance and advances predictive and preventative maintenance capabilities.
Visualising information models is elevated beyond your screen with Extended Reality (XR), whether augmented, virtual, or mixed. XR is a combination of physical and digital worlds where visualisations and interactions are generated by software and wearables. Step inside design plans before projects commence, perform remote site inspections or safety training, and run simulations of complex processes allowing the operator to prepare without risk.
Wearables used for XR differ to those used for carrying out activities in the field. Smart glasses, watches, boots, helmets and bodywear are designed to keep workers safe, healthy, and productive. Glasses display safety protocols, identify hazards, and allow interaction with remote technicians. Watches allow for handsfree communication, contact tracing, and monitor health and activity levels. Boots, helmets and bodywear detect impacts, potential risks, and harmful gases. Exoskeletons provide support and strength, improving worker safety and efficiency.
Some wearables use Internet of Things (IoT) sensors. For the built environment, IoT sensors can be positioned just about anywhere as they become smaller, smarter, connected, and mobile. Leverage connected asset data to detect trends and patterns for evidence-based decisions to minimise risk, maximise performance, and improve utilisation. IoT provides real-time visibility of how the environment is being utilised and how it’s evolving over time, enabling you to manage and optimise physical assets.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has many uses for asset management such as remote inspections, deterioration analysis, lifecycle optimisation, and predictive and preventative maintenance. Another is generative design which is an exploration process using AI-driven software to automatically generate a range of optimised design outputs that meet a set of constraints; parameters such as manufacturing methods, cost and materials, performance, and spatial requirements. Software explores all possible variations including designs that are impossible to make with traditional manufacturing methods. Instead, assets and components are constructed using additive manufacturing.
Additive manufacturing is 3D Printing and can build prototypes, asset components, or full-scale buildings using water and heat resistant materials. It addresses supply chain issues and labour shortages, reduces cost, time, and human error, and has a positive impact on the environment by reducing waste from traditional manufacturing.
Whether a robotic arm on a 3D printer or an autonomous rover, Robotics are on the horizon. Rovers, drones, and bots increase efficiency of inspections and surveys, particularly in the face of labour shortages where worker skills are better spent elsewhere. Mechanical arms automate highly repetitive and complex tasks, and semi-autonomous robots, or co-bots, allow workers to perform dangerous activities safely. As we become increasingly active in worker safety and realising efficiencies that automation delivers, robotics are becoming mainstream during asset construction, operation and maintenance.
Smart asset management is an ecosystem of digital and physical solutions that encompasses dynamic modelling, real-time visibility, connected assets, worker safety, and data intelligence. By leveraging emerging technologies, our industry can collaborate and innovate, improve productivity and compliance, and ultimately deliver new and improved sustainable outcomes for our organisations, employees, and communities.
Data visualisation with Thinkproject
With critical assets engulfed in data, the challenge faced is ensuring relevance, credibility, legitimacy, and effectiveness. Aligning asset hierarchies with national data standards enhances the quality and consistency of schema, supported by technology enhancing the ability to aggregate, analyse, and share insights to enable data-driven decisions and report on asset criticality, condition, and performance.
Visualising this data is essential as assets become connected, more intricate, and so complex within a small area that GIS alone struggles to visualise them. Data visualisation is transforming asset management by shifting from static, textual datasets to dynamic, data rich solutions with the application of visualisation principles in 2D, 3D and 4D.
Thinkproject’s fully integrated asset and work management solution, RAMM, enables clients to easily link an asset record to the exact location on plans and models to easily locate and update assets in complex vertical and horizontal structures. RAMM will soon ingest and interrogate sensor data, providing a digital twin for asset operation. Thinkproject are co-leading the Asset Optimisation Framework with Smart Cities Council ANZ as part of the Digital Twin Challenge to accelerate the regions’ capability.
Come and see the Thinkproject team at the IPWEA International Asset Management Congress 14-15 June.
Get in touch with Thinkproject here.
