Leveraging passive RFID technology for construction resource field mobility and status monitoring in a high-rise renovation project

Abstract The hypothesis is that leveraging automated data collection technology for site status analysis would play a more significant role in advancing decision making in construction projects if applied to traditional labor intensive management work tasks. Such manual data record keeping is, for example, progress tracking measurements and reporting of daily work status and process flows. Recent research on material tracking has demonstrated that the implementation of automated material tracking technology is feasible. Studies have yet to demonstrate whether the same or other technology can be used on other resource types, including workers, and furthermore, in advancing technology that works bi-directional: (1) collect and analyze data, and (2) return automated feedback to the decision makers at the management or even the workforce level. Despite a rigorous cost–benefit, hardware reliability and safety tests, implementation of technology in field operations is often performed on an as-needs basis. Project based case studies are effective research tools to measure the benefits and barriers that technology comes with. This paper will demonstrate results to the design, development, and furthermore and mainly, the effective and affordable implementation of a state-of-the-art wireless passive RFID-based technology system that collects and distributes information from and to decision makers. The developed technology was tested for several consecutive months on more than 50 construction workers, material carts and work related items, and personnel and material lifts that were critical in a high-rise building renovation project. Metrics to measure success in the phases of data collection, the signal and data processing, and in the use of newly generated or already available information for advanced decision making based on passive RFID technology will be presented.