Application Of IoT And Relevant Technologies In The Construction Industry Of China: Challenges And Strategies

The construction industry is one of the largest industries in the world,but still facing lots of challenges such as time and cost overruns.Time overruns seriously affect all participants,causing cost overruns,arbitration or litigation,completion abandonment of a project.It is believed that the extensive application of advanced information technologies will be helpful for the rapid development of the construction industry.However,in terms of new information technologies’ usage,the construction industry is comparatively more conservative than others.In recent years,the rapid development of Internet of Things(IoT)and relevant technologies provide the ability in real time connection and information sharing,but still being in the infancy phase in China.Thus,it is vital to explore the challenges and strategies to implement IoT and relevant technologies so as to promote these technologies in the construction industry of China.This thesis aims to investigate the challenges in the implementation of IoT and relevant technologies in the construction industry of China.Firstly,a literature review is conducted to summarize the IoT applications for the design of questionnaire.Then,a questionnaire survey is conducted to understand the adoption of IoT and relevant technologies,the awareness of construction practitioners towards the adoption of IoT,as well as the challenges of IoT in the industry.Finally,relevant strategies are proposed.Based on 204 respondents to the questionnaire survey,its reliability,validity,descriptive and non-parametric analysis are first conducted,showing that the collected data are reliable and valid.The survey results indicates that the top three IoT applications used in the construction industry of China are information sharing platform,drone and monitoring sensor,and the top three challenges of implementation of IoT and relevant technologies are data accuracy,cost of implementation and professional skill.Besides,the respondents between 25 to 30 years old show the highest prospect in the future adoption of IoT and its relevant technologies.Two strategies are proposed,that is,the integration of IoT pilot projects and the strengthening of IoT devices manufacturing.It is believed that this research will be helpful for the implementation of IoT and relevant technologies,thus improving the performance of China’s construction industry.