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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10012/5127

Title: Data Fusion for Materials Location Estimation in Construction
Authors: Navabzadeh Razavi, Saiedeh
Keywords: Construction Management
Materials Management
Data Fusion
Location Estimation
Relocation Detection
Multihandling
Fuzzy Logic
Dempster-Shafer theory
Approved Date: 29-Apr-2010
Date Submitted: 29-Apr-2010
Abstract: Effective automated tracking and locating of the thousands of materials on construction sites improves material distribution and project performance and thus has a significant positive impact on construction productivity. Many locating technologies and data sources have therefore been developed, and the deployment of a cost-effective, scalable, and easy-to-implement materials location sensing system at actual construction sites has very recently become both technically and economically feasible. However, considerable opportunity still exists to improve the accuracy, precision, and robustness of such systems. The quest for fundamental methods that can take advantage of the relative strengths of each individual technology and data source motivated this research, which has led to the development of new data fusion methods for improving materials location estimation. In this study a data fusion model is used to generate an integrated solution for the automated identification, location estimation, and relocation detection of construction materials. The developed model is a modified functional data fusion model. Particular attention is paid to noisy environments where low-cost RFID tags are attached to all materials, which are sometimes moved repeatedly around the site. A portion of the work focuses partly on relocation detection because it is closely coupled with location estimation and because it can be used to detect the multi-handling of materials, which is a key indicator of inefficiency. This research has successfully addressed the challenges of fusing data from multiple sources of information in a very noisy and dynamic environment. The results indicate potential for the proposed model to improve location estimation and movement detection as well as to automate the calculation of the incidence of multi-handling.
Program: Civil Engineering
Department: Civil and Environmental Engineering
Degree: Doctor of Philosophy
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10012/5127
Appears in Collections:Faculty of Engineering Theses and Dissertations
Electronic Theses and Dissertations (UW)

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