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Search Results for: wireless

The Connected Jobsite: Get Online or Get Left Behind

June 5, 2019 by Leave a Comment

The Connected Jobsite: Get Online or Get Left Behind

Brian Antonsen is McKinstry’s vice president of Washington mechanical construction.

To thrive in today’s digital world, the construction industry must think differently and recognize transformative opportunities to create value through emerging technologies. 

The construction industry, like so many others, is contemplating how to best integrate the latest technologies while redefining what it means to be “connected” on the jobsite. To understand this, we must start by looking at what’s driving technology across all personal and professional applications — wider integration of wireless communications (including both Wi-Fi and cellular), the next generation of cellular technology (5G) and Internet of Things (IoT) sensors. Futurists and industry visionaries are all saying the same thing, “5G and IoT will radically transform our lives.” 

Using this context, we can now take that same technology landscape and bring it down to the construction level. Recently, there’s been a big push to adopt jobsite technology — particularly drones and machine learning. Most of it requires sensors to communicate with other systems in the network, function properly, deliver accurate data and carry out their operations. 

The opportunities created by this kind of technology will shape where the construction industry is going. Imagine having access to real-time insights tracking project schedules, milestones and budgets. As construction projects become increasingly connected, contractors will be able to harness the data available from sensor-rich construction sites and use it to perform big data analytics and machine learning — allowing them to analyze and optimize a construction jobsite. 

This reality is a lot closer than you might think. Believe it or not, this sort of intel, enabled by connected jobsite technology, will be at our fingertips within the next three to five years.

Read Brian’s full column at PHCP Pros.

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Filed Under: Better Buildings, Big Ideas, Home

5G is coming

March 21, 2018 by Leave a Comment

5G is coming

The following is the second in a series of posts providing insights into how trends on display at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) will drive innovation in the built environment.

The next few years will be full of discussions about Smart Buildings, Smart Cities and how the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) will transform business and society in ways we haven’t yet realized. Sensors will be everywhere and in everything, gathering data to be analyzed and providing a deeper look into virtually everything. Most cars will have the ability to drive themselves. People will have six or more connected devices at any given time. And how we interact with the built environment will change.

[Read more…]

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Filed Under: Big Ideas, Home, Technology Tagged With: 5G, CES, millimeter wave, MIMO, Smart Buildings, Wireless

The jobsite of tomorrow

March 14, 2018 by Leave a Comment

The jobsite of tomorrow

The following is the first in a series of posts providing insights into how trends on display at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) will drive innovation in the built environment.

The evolution of technology continues to accelerate, and with it the impact it has on how we design and construct the built environment. McKinstry is already using many newer technologies. We use building information modeling (BIM) for 3-D modelling and detailing, digitally enhanced pre-fabrication and kitting in our state-of-the-art shop. On the job site, our use of collaboration software and on-site data vaults—and even moving to handheld devices for reviewing specs, plans and creating as-builts—means we never need to go back to the job trailer. Technology has dramatically improved how we deliver work and there is no end in sight.

CES 2018 showcased several emerging technologies that portend the future of construction and will be implemented on the jobsite of tomorrow.

[Read more…]

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Filed Under: Big Ideas, Home, Technology Tagged With: 3-D Printing, 5G, AR, BIM, CES, Drones, Jobsite of tomorrow, Technology, VR, Wearable technology

Say goodbye to wasted water: How smart water meters help us conserve

January 5, 2016 by Leave a Comment

Say goodbye to wasted water: How smart water meters help us conserve

Dripping faucet

Photo by r. nial bradshaw, via Flickr.

We live in a thirsty world, but our water supply is dripping through our fingers.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), dripping faucets and leaking fixtures alone can waste more than a trillion gallons of water annually nationwide, and billions (if not trillions) are wasted through aging infrastructure. With drought looming in the West, many states are facing a serious water crisis.

Unfortunately, we don’t really know how much water is being consumed or how much is lost in transit. However, “smart” water meters and their infrastructure can help establish an accurate baseline across an entire city or utility. This can help reduce water waste, identify leaks and generate vital usage data.

[Read more…]

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Filed Under: Home, Technology Tagged With: Advanced Metering Infrastructure, Advanced Water Meters, Automated Meter Reading, municipal government, Networked Cities, Water, Water Conservation, Water Meters

LED streetlights need smart controls

November 16, 2015 by 1 Comment

Difference in LED vs. high-pressure sodium streetlights.

Before and after Los Angeles replaced their high-pressure sodium streetlights with LEDs. © COPYRIGHT 2015 CITY OF LOS ANGELES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

LEDs aren’t just for student science projects anymore.

Out on our city streets, LED streetlights are an emerging technology that use significantly less energy, offer improved light quality, and last longer. On an apples-to-apples, technology-to-technology comparison, LED streetlights easily beat out all the other streetlighting technologies.

No wonder, then, that cities nationwide are beginning to replace their streetlights with LEDs. However, many cities are missing out on the real opportunity with LED streetlights: smart controls and the potential for a networked city.

[Read more…]

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Filed Under: Home, Technology Tagged With: cities, controls, Energy Efficiency, LED streetlights, municipal government

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