A SCO-Based Tower Crane System for Prefabrication Construction

Prefabrication construction has been increasingly applied to the construction industry. Automation and intelligentization of construction site and construction objects has become the fore for the development of the prefabrication construction. In this study, a SCO-based tower crane system, as the core resource site on the critical path of prefabrication construction, is proposed to make the cranes more intelligent and efficient. A set of smart units are applied to the tower cranes and prefabricated components to make them into Smart Construction Objects (SCOs), enabling the functions of awareness, communicativeness and autonomy. The smart tower crane could “talk” with prefabrication components through sensors and real-time wireless connections. A system operation flow is developed for fetching and placing target components. The SCO-based tower crane system can provide the operation instruments, real-time traceability of the components, and necessary warning. The system is being tested in a pilot project, which is delivered through BIM and prefabrication construction. It is envisaged that the SCO-based tower crane system could significantly improve the safety performance and operation efficiency of the tower crane operations in prefabrication construction.