INTEGRATION OF BIM AND REAL-TIME SENSOR DATA TO ENHANCE FACILITY MANAGEMENT

In the construction industry, much of the focus is on the design and construction phase, while the most extended and costly phase of building life cycle is related to the operation of the building. Availability, accessibility, reliability, and updating of building information and the appropriate tools to manage this information are critical in facility management. During operation, real-time data of the building (e.g., temperature, humidity) that reflects the actual condition of the building can be measured using sensors. Building Information Modeling (BIM) has the capability of integrating different technologies, thus providing a suitable platform for managing such critical information. Sensor data act as a data repository for the BIM model. The integration of BIM and real-time sensor data provides a powerful platform to visualize, monitor, and process building performance levels in a timely and automated manner. Although integrating sensor data and the BIM model was explored in the previous studies, processing data to be added into the BIM model was performed with a delay. In this study, visualization, monitoring, and processing data are performed in a timely and automated manner by employing an Application Programming Interface (API). Moreover, the developed system provides maintenance information promptly and reduces extra repair context of the BIM. This procedure enhances the efficiency of facility management, emergency management, and maintenance for buildings. The developed framework also reduces the need for monitoring maintenance data manually, resulting in lowering the cost of operating the building and increasing the level of performance of the building simultaneously. The framework was validated in a residential building. Sensor data were added to a database in an automatic and timely manner via a user interface for the sake of visualization and data monitoring. A customized API code was also utilized to process data and evaluate the environmental conditions.