Related Links: International Strategic Development Solutions NoteVault In Afghanistan's Bamyan Province, a New Zealand-funded development project is now bringing 24-hour electricity to 2,490 homes and businesses in scattered hamlets with an off-the-grid, 1.05-MW network of solar arrays, batteries, backup generators and transmission lines.The $14.2-million project includes five arrays, mostly perched on rough hillsides about 10 km apart at an elevation of 8,500 ft. It now is in the hands of the Afghan national electricity utility for a 24-month, post-construction run-in maintenance period.The developer is the Bamyan Renewable Energy Programme Partnership. Program manager is International Strategic Development Solutions, a New Zealand
Photo Courtesy of Icarus Aerial In Minutes Trevor Duke, of Icarus Aerial LLC, an early enrollee in Workmode, says he can walk up to a job trailer, explain his services and be airborne in minutes. Map products processed and delivered by Workmode can bring valuable data to contractors. Photo Courtesy of Icarus Aerial Related Links: SkyCatch signup Icarus Aerials The commercial drone industry is rising like mushrooms after a rain, following recent moves by the Federal Aviation Administration that remove uncertainty about how it is likely to regulate drone flights once the laborious federal rule-making process runs its course. Pent-up
Dozens of software companies sell collaboration software that connects project stakeholders. But the software’s usefulness can be limited because people only share information with those they know and trust. Think about it. A construction project is like an arranged marriage. You throw people together who have never met, put them in the pressure cooker we call a project, where the stakes are high, the pressure is tremendous, and the resources are limited. And then we expect them to be collaborative and communicative and share everything openly! British Petroleum learned this difficult lesson about technology and collaboration. BP spent millions of dollars
Related Links: FAA summary of proposed drone rule Commercial Drone Flight Condoned, For Some (enr.com 12/15/2014) Survey Technology Firms Deploy Their Own Drones (ENR 9/8/2014 issue) [subscription] Some Firms Are Not Waiting For Regulations On Commercial Drone Operations (ENR 9/8/2014 issue) [subscription] The Federal Aviation Administration has proposed a regulation that would place limits on commercial use of airborne drones, a technology that has sparked interest from surveying firms and construction contractors.FAA last December had granted a handful of firms exemptions to use drones for aerial surveying and monitoring construction sites.But FAA's eagerly awaited proposal, announced on Feb. 15, would
Many construction companies are looking to improve their operations by taking advantage of mobile technologies. Some of the industry’s biggest productivity gains are coming from mobile innovations, but there are a lot of options to pick through.First, what does "Mobile" really mean? "Mobile" comes in two forms, web based or app based (Android or iOS). Web-based systems need an Internet connection and rely on external software. App-based tools work with locally installed software, and some only work on specific devices. Also, most mobile systems are designed to work one way on your desktop and another, more specific—and sometimes more limited
Courtesy Carnegie Mellon University A person's gait, weight and health are contributors to the specific vibration pattern they make as they walk. Related Links: Hae Young Noh assistant professor, Carnegie Mellon University explains her building sensor technology. A new structural-vibration sensor system inspired by scorpions’ predatory habits detects building occupants by their walking patterns. Walking vibrations produce a unique signature pinned to individual occupants.“It helps with building-energy management and to control the HVAC systems, based on occupancy,” says Hae Young Noh, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. The practical application of Noh and her team’s
Image-making technology improves every year and ENR's annual The Year in Construction photo contest is one way to track how that improvement is contributing to improving the construction process, itself.Less than a decade ago our judges started seeing images shot by the then-new GoPro camera. GoPro cameras are now becoming commonplace tools on jobsites and have made it possible not only to capture photo documentation easily, but even to capture inspection photos in difficult-to-reach areas with relative ease. Such photos can reduce risk and improve performance.When the contest began in 2002, film and digital photos sent in by mail on
Architecture Engineering and Construction hackathons bring AEC professionals together with technology developers to turn ideas into proofs-of-concept. All this happens in a weekend of focused collaborative effort. This “hacking” philosophy and approach is a powerful tool to enable the AEC industry to learn how to innovate, by focusing limited resources to quickly develop ideas and solutions. To maximize our hacker approach to innovation, Balfour Beatty tested the concept through several internal and external hackathon-style events and initiatives.Externally, our teams compete at AEC Hackathons, including the most recent AEC Hackathon 1.2 – Seattle, where we collaborated with fellow hackers from Microsoft, Newforma
Courtesy Trimble Navigation Limited Trimble is one of four companies that got an FAA permit to fly unmanned aircraft for commercial purposes. Pictured here is the firm's fixed-wing UX5. Courtesy Trimble Navigation Limited Trimble's UX5 launcher. The Federal Aviation Administration on Dec. 10 issued five permits to four companies to fly unmanned aircraft for commecial purposes. It remains unclear how the permits might branch out.“It’s available to us to be subcontractors with this, but our distribution channel is our strength,” says Todd Steiner, marketing director of geospatial imaging solutions at Trimble, which is the first fixed-wing manufacturer to get issued
Related Links: Water-Mapping Tool May Lead to More Informed Design Decisions Online Options Abound for Electronic File Sharing Yau Lee Group Hong Kong Housing Authority Center for Integrated Facility Engineering Trimble Vico RIB iTwo 5D software Bluescape interactive displays NVIDIA graphical processing units Nasuni storage as a service Panzura cloud storage system Supercharging Structural Design & Construction Productivity Design and construction professionals are seeing a rapid expansion in the hardware, software and services available for collecting and sharing information with distributed teams. The market has exploded with a wide range of effective tools and systems for gathering digital data, exchanging
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