(2015) Real-Time Replay System: Fusion of Virtual Reality and Sensor Database for Infrastructure Safety Management

 
Using visualization techniques to render real-time sensor data about an infrastructure facility can provide immediate and informative feedback for infrastructure safety analysis and management. This paper proposed a platform, real-time replay system (RTRS), to provide such a virtual reality environment through the Unity 3d game engine. RTRS combines building information model (BIM) data with the sensor data, which can be collected by a temperature sensor, smart power meter, or other types of sensors within an infrastructure facility. RTRS is robust and allows users to place their own BIM file and/or sensor data for further analysis and rendering. RTRS users can easily change the scene or jump to the given time frame based on their infrastructure monitoring needs. The authors applied the Internet of Thing (IoT) technique to synchronize the sensor data in the cloud database and to update the sensor data within RTRS. Additionally, RTRS users can set up event triggering parameters in the cloud database or query against the database. In order to handle various data transmission protocols imposed by each sensor manufacturer, the authors applied the Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) technique to integrate the needed data transmission and conversion. In overall, RTRS provides a professional and convenient tool for monitoring and managing infrastructure safety, reducing the time and efforts for data analysis at the raw data level.
 

 

Related Publication:

Chiang, C.T., Lin, K.Y., Chou, C.C. (2015), “Real-Time Replay System: Fusion of Virtual Reality and Sensor Database for Infrastructure Safety Management”, Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Civil and Building Engineering Informatics, April 22 – 24, 2015, Tokyo, Japan.