"WEARABLE" INFORMATION SYSTEMS FOR CONSTRUCTION SITE MANAGEMENT

THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY HAS FAILED TO ADOPT AND APPLY NEW INFORMATION SYSTEM TECHNOLOGY AS QUICKLY AS MOST OTHER US INDUSTRIES. SPECIFICALLY, CONSTRUCTION FIELD SITE MANAGEMENT AND SUPERVISION HAS SEEN LITTLE IMPROVEMENT IN TECHNIQUES FOR DATA GATHERING, PROGRESS REPORTING AND COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN BOTH FIELD AND CORPORATE OFFICE. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO CREATE A "WEARABLE" INFORMATION SYSTEM DEVICE THAT CAN BE USED BY SUPERVISORY PERSONNEL THAT PROVIDES UP-TO-DATE PROJECT INFORMATION SUCH AS BUDGET, SCHEDULE, AND CHANGE ORDER DETAILS AND ENABLE THESUPERVISOR TO EASILY AND ACCURATELY RECORD JOB PROGRESS AND CONSTRUCTION SITE CONDITIONS. THE RESEARCH WILL FOCUS ON THE CREATION OF A PROTOTYPE APPARATUS USING COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE COMPONENTS SUCH AS A PORTABLE MICRO-COMPUTER, A MINIATURE DISPLAY MONITOR, A VOICE RECOGNITION SYSTEM, AND A BAR CODE READER. THE INTERFACING DEVICES (MONITOR, MICROPHONE, AND SPEAKERS), WILL BE FITTED TO A STANDARD CONSTRUCTION HARD HAT. ADDITIONALLY, A VOICE-ACTIVATED MENUING SYSTEM WILL PROVIDE THE FIELD SUPERVISOR WITH AN ARRAY OF SITE MANAGEMENT APPLICATIONS. FINALLY, A DETAILED SET OF DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS WILL BE DEVELOPED WHICH CAN BE USED TO CONSTRUCT THE NEXT GENERATION OF WEARABLE INFORMATION SYSTEMS FOR CONSTRUCTION SITES. THE INTRODUCTION OF SUCH A DEVICE INTO THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY MARKET COULD YIELD GREAT BENEFITS IN CONSTRUCTION SITE PRODUCTIVITY, AND SHOULD LEAD TO REDUCED ERRORS CAUSED BY INACCURATE OR OUT-DATED INFORMATION. WIDESPREAD IMPLEMENTATION OF WEARABLE INFORMATION SYSTEMS SHOULD GREATLY IMPROVE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF COMMUNICATIONS ON THE MODERN CONSTRUCTION SITE.