Industry 4.0-Based Digital Twin Approach for Construction Site Tracking Purposes

Construction sites are dynamic and complex systems with significant potential for time and cost efficiency improvement through digitization and interconnection. Construction 4.0 is the use of modern information and communication technologies known from Industry 4.0 (I4.0) to interconnect construction sites with cyber-physical systems (CPS). In these decentralized systems, construction workers, machines, and processes become smart I4.0 components that can exchange data and information with each other in a decentralized and self-controlled manner. The basis for informed decision-making to control and optimize relevant on-site processes is real-time detection of the current construction progress and the machines used on the construction site. Computer vision (CV)-based tracking systems offer a technical solution that can reliably detect construction workers and machines and track construction progress and processes. These tracking systems generate large amounts of data that must be processed and analysed automatically. The goal is to integrate the tracking system into the CPS as an I4.0 component. Essential for this is the digital twin as a virtual representation of an I4.0 component that centrally collects, processes, and provides data for the respective component. This paper presents an I4.0-based digital twin approach for digitizing and interconnection of the construction site into a CPS. The approach integrates a CV-based tracking system as an I4.0 component to locate construction equipment on the construction site. The tracking system is a multi-camera multi-object tracking system that uses stereo vision cameras and a real-time capable detector. The asset administration shell (AAS) is used as the platform for the digital twin.