Semantic Grid Technologies in Computer Integrated Construction

Important goal of computer science in civil engineering projects is to facilitate dynamic collaboration among the companies, improvements of services and reuse of programs, data, information and knowledge. Civil engineering has some specific requirements concerning computer applications, which arise from the irrepeatability and scale of particular civil engineering products, processes and collaborating groups. Internet technologies are basis for linking processes in all construction phases, which leads to computer integrated construction. Computing grid, or shortly grid is a service infrastructure, which is being developed to facilitate infinite and seamless sharing of widely distributed, heterogeneous resources, hence, contributing towards the solution of complex engineering problems. A hypothesis of this work is that the grid can become viable platform for computer integrated construction, if semantic technologies are used for its development, i.e. ontologies and metadata, information, ontology and resource broker grid services. The hypothesis is tested by developing an ontology that defines the concept of a grid resource to describe specific resources in a grid environment. The aforementioned grid services are included in the design of a grid system, and are developed and deployed in a test bed. The test bed allows for the execution of complex grid applications, which take the form of workflows. It is shown that the ontology and the metadata about grid resources are useful when enabling, discovering, selecting and dynamically integrating resources on the grid. This approach yields several improvements against existing systems: a higher level of abstraction when developing and executing innovative and powerful engineering applications, greater flexibility, resource utilization and security, which is very important for dynamic collaboration within virtual organizations

SEMANTIC SERVICE ENVIRONMENTS FOR INTEGRATING TEXT WITH MODEL-BASED INFORMATION IN AEC/FM

In distributed project organisations and collaboration there is a need for integrating unstructured self-contained text information with structured project data. We consider this a process of text integration in which various text technologies can be used to externalise text content and consolidate it into structured information or flexibly interlink it with corresponding information bases. However, the effectiveness of text technologies and the potentials of text integration greatly vary with the type of documents, the project setup and the available background knowledge. The goal of our research is to establish text technologies within collaboration environments to allow for (a) flexibly combining appropriate text and data management technologies, (b) utilising available context information and (c) the sharing of text information in accordance to the most critical integration tasks. A particular focus is on Semantic Service Environments that leverage on Web service and Semantic Web technologies and adequately support the required systems integration and parallel processing of semi-structured and structured information. The paper presents an architecture for text integration that extends Semantic Service Environments with two types of integration services. Backbone to the Information Resource Sharing and Integration Service is a shared environment ontology that consolidates information on the project context and the available model, text and general linguistic resources. It also allows for the configuration of Semantic Text Analysis and Annotation Services to analyse the text documents as well as for capturing the discovered text information and sharing it through semantic notification and retrieval engines. A particular focus of the paper is the definition of the overall integration process configuring a complementary set of analyses and information sharing components

New generation web services as an infrastructure for virtual organization management

This PhD dissertation discusses various possibilities for communication and collaboration in virtual organizations with the help of ICT tools and Web 2.0 services. The work defends the thesis that the Web 2.0 services present appropriate grounds for efficient communication and collaboration, but they require additional development in some fields. The dissertation enlightens the problem of communication from the viewpoint of civil engineering and sociology, identifies a model of communication in civil engineering, investigates the effect of organization structure on communication, and presents the difference in the topology of communication links between traditional and ICT approaches to collaboration. It is shown that the existing ICT systems generally do not support the informal communication. Therefore the existing social, technological and business trends in the field of information and communication technologies for collaboration are investigated. Because of the comparison with the existing surveys and the assessment of the impact of technological populism on knowledge workers in civil engineering, a survey focused on our research agenda is conducted. It shows that the barriers for an extensive ICT usage are still represented mainly by the general attitude suggesting that the old ways of performing tasks have worked well throughout the years and changes are not necessary. The final section presents the design of the architecture of the informal and distributed ICT system for collaboration based on theoretic grounds and results obtained from the survey on the ICT usage in the Slovene construction industry. We have created the prototype which indirectly supports the hypothesis

A service-oriented framework for interpersonal communication in architecture, engineering and construction

U suradničkim tehničkim okruženjima razmjena komunikacije i informacija među suradnicima je od bitne važnosti za uspješno izvršenje projekta. Moderna informatička tehnologija vodi ka dvije divergentne komunikacijske topoligije: 1) industrija je usamjerena ka centralizaciji oko informatičkog modela, 2) građani, koji se informatičkom tehnologijom služe kod kuće, idu prema umrežavanju u kojem svatko može komunicirati sa svakim kad god hoće služeći se komunikacijskim uslugama poput onih u društvenim medijima. U radu se daje analiza, zamišljeni model, arhitektura i prototip sustava koji ove druge usmjerava prema inžinjerskoj zajednici. Model se sastoji od dvije glavne komponente: 1) pokretačkog dijela – motora koji osigurava radno okruženje i podršku ključnim uslugama kao što su lokalna pohrana i integracija modula, 2) vanjskih modula, koji proširuju ključne sposobnosti motora. U svrhu istraživanja provedena je SWOT analiza kojom su određene ključne karakteristike predloženog pristupa.In collaborative engineering environments communication and information sharing among participants is essential for successful project delivery. Modern information technology is driving the world towards two divergent communication topologies: 1) the industry is driven towards a centralized one around an information model, 2) citizens using information technologies at home are driven towards a meshed one where each can communicate whenever to whoever using communication services like those in social media. This paper presents the analysis, conceptual framework, architecture and prototype of a system that is bringing the latter to the engineering community. The framework consists of two main components: 1) a framework engine providing working environment and support for core services such as locale storage and module integration, and 2) external modules, extending core capabilities of the framework. For the purpose of this research work the SWOT analysis has been carried out revealing main characteristics of the proposed approach

Designing a Framework for Exchanging Partial Sets of BIM Information on a Cloud-Based Service

The rationale behind this research study was based on the recognised difficulty of exchanging data at element or object level due to the inefficiencies of compatible hardware and software. Interoperability depicts the need to pass data between applications, allowing multiple types of experts and applications to contribute to the work at hand. The only way that software file exchanges between two applications can produce consistent data and change management results for large projects is through a building model repository. The overall aim of this thesis was to design and develop an integrated process that would advance key decisions at an early design stage through faster information exchanges during collaborative work. In the construction industry, Building Information Modeling is the most integrated shared model between all disciplines. It is based on a manufacturing-like process where standardised deliverables are used throughout the life cycle with effective collaboration as its main driving force. However, the dilemma is how to share these properties of BIM applications on one single platform asynchronously. Cloud Computing is a centralized heterogeneous network that enables different applications to be connected to each other. The methodology used in the research was based on triangulation of data which incorporated many techniques featuring a mixture of both quantitative and qualitative analysis. The results identified the need to re-engineer Simplified Markup Language, in order to exchange partial data sets of intelligent object architecture on an integrated platform. The designed and tested prototype produced findings that enhanced project decisions at a relatively early design stage, improved communication and collaboration techniques and cross disciple co-ordination

Grid-selvitys. Näkökulma tietojärjestelmien yhteiskäytön edistämiseen

Raportissa kuvataan yleisesti grid-käsitemaailmaa sekä gridin kehittymisen ja soveltamisen nykyvaihetta ja tulevaisuuskuvaa. Käsitteellä grid ei ole yhtä ja ainoaa yleisesti hyväksyttyä määritelmää. Tietojärjestelmissä grid voidaan hahmottaa infrastruktuurina, johon kuuluu joukko erilaisia resursseja: mm. prosessointivoimaa, tietovarastoja, verkkoyhteyksiä ja sovelluspalveluita. Rapaortissa esitellään lisäksi gridin roolia tietoyhteiskunnan kehityksessä sekä grid-ajattelun asemaa ja etenemistä Suomessa, Euroopassa ja myös laajemmin kansainvälisesti

An intelligent system for facility management

A software system has been developed that monitors and interprets temporally changing (internal) building environments and generates related knowledge that can assist in facility management (FM) decision making. The use of the multi agent paradigm renders a system that delivers demonstrable rationality and is robust within the dynamic environment that it operates. Agent behaviour directed at working toward goals is rendered intelligent with semantic web technologies. The capture of semantics though formal expression to model the environment, adds a richness that the agents exploit to intelligently determine behaviours to satisfy goals that are flexible and adaptable. The agent goals are to generate knowledge about building space usage as well as environmental conditions by elaborating and combining near real time sensor data and information from conventional building models. Additionally further inferences are facilitated including those about wasted resources such as unnecessary lighting and heating for example. In contrast, current FM tools, lacking automatic synchronisation with the domain and rich semantic modelling, are limited to the simpler querying of manually maintained models.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo