Digital Twin : Vision, Benefits, Boundaries, and Creation for Buildings

The concept of a digital twin has been used in some industries where an accurate digital model of the equipment can be used for predictive maintenance. The use of a digital twin for performance is critical, and for capital-intensive equipment such as jet engines it proved to be successful in terms of cost savings and reliability improvements. In this paper, we aim to study the expansion of the digital twin in including building life cycle management and explore the benefits and shortcomings of such implementation. In four rounds of experimentation, more than 25,000 sensor reading instances were collected, analyzed, and utilized to create and test a limited digital twin of an office building facade element. This is performed to point out the method of implementation, highlight the benefits gained from digital twin, and to uncover some of the technical shortcomings of the current Internet of Things systems for this purpose.Peer reviewe

IoT-Enabled Workplaces: A Case Study of Energy Management and Data Analytics

In this paper, a use case related to smart buildings is presented to illustrate the application of IoT-enabled workplaces. The data collected from two office spaces are compared using efficient data analytics method. For this comparison, the environmental factors considered are temperature, humidity, air quality, and workplace particle numbers. This paper demonstrates how to build IoT-enabled workplaces and illustrates its actual benefits to energy management and remote systems monitoring and control. A survey was conducted by the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management at Aalto University, and responses were submitted from 50 unique users to illustrate the incentives regarding IoT-enabled workplaces and to study occupants' preferences. Moreover, the research results contribute to the facility management of companies and organizations by suggesting novel methods for providing more efficient and effective IoT-enabled workplaces.Peer reviewe

Digital Twin for Safety and Comfort: A Case Study of Sauna

This article presents a method to create a digital twin for sauna. The digital twin deploys a data analytics method based on fuzzy similarity measure for data summarization to provide real-time actionable instructions. The intended outcome of the digital twin is enhanced safety and improved sauna experience. In this research, we collected the data through experimentation with a testbed and interviews. Our implemented digital twin simplifies the readings of nineteen sensors into a single graphical form for the user that illustrates the overall sauna conditions and assists the sauna manager with condition optimization. Results illustrated the effectiveness of the digital twin in achieving an enhanced sauna condition for the users and providing the sauna manager with a decision support system. The method of creating the digital twin described in this article has potential implications for the condition monitoring, predictive maintenance, and enhancing the safety and security of complex systems.Peer reviewe

A Novel Method for Big Data Analytics and Summarization based on Fuzzy Similarity Measure

The use of Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and devices is on a sharp rise with the help of infrastructures like 5G cellular networks. However, with this swift expansion come major challenges such as management of the vast data collected by these IoT devices. In the paper, we propose a method which takes advantage of fuzzy similarity to significantly simplify the big data analysis and management for human operators and machines. A use case in the area of smart buildings was utilized to illustrate its potential application. A comparison is made between the ideal situation and the data collected from an office room. The considered environmental factors in this research are temperature, humidity, and workplace lighting and then the collected data was utilized to make triangular fuzzy numbers and after that, we compare them with an efficient fuzzy similarity measure. In addition to data summarization and abstraction, this method also protects the main information from inaccuracy. The advantage of the fuzzy controlling system is its aptitude to deal with nonlinearities and uncertainties.Peer reviewe

Crowdsourcing Properties and Mechanisms of Mega Hackathons : The Case of Junction

Publisher Copyright: CCBYHackathons are time-bounded crowdsourcing events, which have recently prospered in many technology and science domains across the globe. We study Europe's largest hackathon, Junction, to better understand the distinct crowdsourcing properties and mechanisms of this type of hackathon as a form of tournament-based crowdsourcing. Moreover, we determined how they add value to attending companies and participants. In this regard, six qualitative and quantitative datasets from participants, companies, and the organizer were collected and analyzed. Our findings revealed five distinct crowdsourcing properties and mechanisms of mega hackathons, including intricate crowd selection, strong crowd vibe, instant crowd feedback, versatile crowd potential, and pervasive information technology. Based on our findings, we argue that these properties and mechanisms increase the possibility of finding innovative solutions to companies' problems in Junction-like mega hackathons. This article concludes with managerial implications for companies to consciously plan and prepare while knowing what to expect during the hackathon.Peer reviewe

Impact of Additive Manufacturing on Supply Chain Complexity

This paper aims to determine whether additive manufacturing (AM) always simplifies the supply chain. The advent of AM as a final-parts production method can radically impact supply chains. Due to AM’s inherent characteristics that suit customised production and complex geometries, utilization of this technology continues to expand into various industries (e.g. aviation, defence, automobile, medicine). Some of the crucial areas that AM can contribute to are cost reduction and simplification of organizations’ supply chains. An objective examination of the entire supply chain rather than merely focusing on production cost is important when studying the impact of switch-over from conventional to additive manufacturing. Supply chain complexity is caused by the proliferation of products, processes, suppliers, and markets, resulting in additional costs and decreased company profit. Therefore, to clearly illustrate the benefits and shortcomings of a switch-over to AM, it is necessary to investigate this transition indepth. In this paper, we analysed supply chain complexity before and after the implementation of AM in three case companies from distinct industries by conducting interviews or utilizing publicly available information. Our findings underline the simplification of supply chain in one of the cases, after the switch to AM, while it resulted in slightly higher complexity in another case. In the third case, the impact of switching to AM on the supply chain complexity is dependent on several variables. We contribute to the literature by elucidating on the common belief that AM simplifies the supply chain. We found that the implementation of AM is not a silver bullet to reduce the complexity of every supply chain.Peer reviewe