Review on Sensing Technology Adoption in the Construction Industry

Sensing technologies demonstrate promising potential in providing the construction industry with a safe, productive, and high-quality process. The majority of sensing technologies in the construction research area have been focused on construction automation research in prefabrication, on-site operation, and logistics. However, most of these technologies are either not implemented in real construction projects or are at the very early stages in practice. The corresponding applications are far behind, even in extensively researched aspects such as Radio Frequency Identification, ultra-wideband technology, and Fiber Optic Sensing technology. This review systematically investigates the current status of sensing technologies in construction from 187 articles and explores the reasons responsible for their slow adoption from 69 articles. First, this paper identifies common sensing technologies and investigates their implementation extent. Second, contributions and limitations of sensing technologies are elaborated to understand the current status. Third, key factors influencing the adoption of sensing technologies are extracted from construction stakeholders’ experience. Demand towards sensing technologies, benefits and suitability of them, and barriers to their adoption are reviewed. Lastly, the governance framework is determined as the research tendency facilitating sensing technologies adoption. This paper provides a theoretical basis for the governance framework development. It will promote the sensing technologies adoption and improve construction performance including safety, productivity, and quality.