Hui-Ping Tserng

A framework of electronic tendering for government procurement: a lesson learned in Taiwan

To render government procurement efficient, transparent, nondiscriminating, and accountable, an electronic government procurement system is required. Accordingly, Taiwan Government Procurement Law (TGPL) states that suppliers may employ electronic devices to forward a tender. This investigation demonstrates how the electronic government procurement system functions and reengineers internal procurement processes, which in turn benefits both government bodies and venders. The system features explored herein include posting/receiving bids via the Internet, vender registration, certificate authorization, contract development tools, bid/Request For Proposal (RFP) development, online bidding, and online payment, all of which can be integrated easily within most existing information infrastructures.

AutoPave: towards an automated paving system for asphalt pavement compaction operations

Abstract Asphalt pavement density from roller compaction is a crucial factor in ensuring satisfactory pavement performance. Proper and uniform compaction of the pavement mat is essential in achieving the desired final compacted density. There is a necessity to investigate existing pavement construction practices, and provide more cost-effective modifications to the current scenario. Automation of the paving operation can increase the efficiency and quality of the operation, lead to reductions in overall project costs and time, and enhance pavement life. A system can be developed through algorithmic planning and real-time guidance strategies, and the development of a semi-automated path-planning and real-time guidance system that aims towards automating the paving operation. This system accepts relevant paving project inputs, generates appropriate path plans for the compactor, performs a graphical visualization of the generated path plan, and offers real-time guidance capabilities using Global Positioning Systems (GPS) technology. This system, named AUTOPAVE (v1.0), was developed in Microsoft Visual Basic™ programming language and offers a user-friendly and interactive graphical interface. The proposed new system will incorporate state-of-the-art GPS technology to standardize paving operations that are more amenable to rigorous quality control, and can result in considerable reductions in cost and time involved in asphalt pavement construction projects. This system was tested on several actual paving projects, and many operational issues related to the functioning of the system were successfully overcome.

Computer-integrated collaborative design and operation in the construction industry

The construction industry is emerging as the next frontier for computer-integrated technologies, just as the manufacturing industry did 25 years ago. More recently, the emergence of Internet–Intranet technologies is creating new mechanisms for collaborative design and operation that were previously impossible. The advances that have occurred in the manufacturing industry in the areas of collaborative design, intelligent process planning and computer-integrated manufacturing provide significant insights for formulating analogous paradigms for computer-integrated construction. However, in many aspects, the development of enabling technologies (for design, operation and decision-making) to achieve this transformation in the construction industry is not as trivial as repackaging existing technologies and tools that have been developed for the manufacturing industry. In this paper, we draw attention to some of the significant research opportunities and challenges that exist in these areas of collaborative design and computer-integrated construction, and outline some related researches at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Development of an object-oriented scheduling model for construction projects

The relations of the construction activities can be demonstrated by fixed and soft logics. The fixed logic provides only a logic sequence of the construction activities. On the other hand, soft logic provides other possibilities of analyzing the activities. The current network techniques presume that there is only one logical sequence of the activities in a project. Therefore, planners need to choose one particular logical sequence even if there is more than one solution. This causes the time-consuming problem of schedule updating on soft-logic sequencing. This paper discusses the factors that influence the sequencing of the soft-logic and the heuristic sequencing principles. It develops algorithms incorporating with the heuristic sequencing principles to automatically identify the logical sequence of activities with soft logic that satisfies the given factors, and encapsulates the concept in a model with object-oriented paradigm.

Enhancing Knowledge Sharing Management Using BIM Technology in Construction

Construction knowledge can be communicated and reused among project managers and jobsite engineers to alleviate problems on a construction jobsite and reduce the time and cost of solving problems related to constructability. This paper proposes a new methodology for the sharing of construction knowledge by using Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology. The main characteristics of BIM include illustrating 3D CAD-based presentations and keeping information in a digital format and facilitation of easy updating and transfer of information in the BIM environment. Using the BIM technology, project managers and engineers can gain knowledge related to BIM and obtain feedback provided by jobsite engineers for future reference. This study addresses the application of knowledge sharing management using BIM technology and proposes a BIM-based Knowledge Sharing Management (BIMKSM) system for project managers and engineers. The BIMKSM system is then applied in a selected case study of a construction project in Taiwan to demonstrate the effectiveness of sharing knowledge in the BIM environment. The results demonstrate that the BIMKSM system can be used as a visual BIM-based knowledge sharing management platform by utilizing the BIM technology.

Developing BIM-assisted as-built schedule management system for general contractors

AbstractConstruction project control attempts to obtain real-time as-built schedule information and to eliminate project delays by effectively enhancing dynamic schedule control and management. Suitable platforms for enhancing an as-built schedule visually during the construction phase are necessary and important for general contractors. As the application of building information modeling (BIM) becomes more common, schedule management integrated with the BIM approach becomes essential to enhance visual construction management implementation for the general contractor during the construction phase. To enhance visualization of the updated as-built schedule for the general contractor, this study presents a novel system called the Construction BIM-assisted Schedule Management (ConBIM-SM) system for general contractors in Taiwan. The primary purpose of this study is to develop a web ConBIM-SM system for the general contractor to enhance visual as-built schedule information sharing and efficiency in tracking co...

An Operations Planning System for Asphalt Pavement Compaction

Asphalt density after compaction by the breakdown roller is a key factor influencing asphalt pavement performance. Among the several factors influencing asphalt pavement density, the number of passes required for a rolling operation is a critical factor and difficult to determine and measure appropriately. Furthermore, it is difficult to ensure that the roller will uniformly cover the entire length and width of the pavement mat. Without an efficient path planning system, errors in human judgment may cause variation in overlap areas and reduce compaction efficiency. The significance of achieving optimal asphalt density coupled with the problems associated with the present system of operation, motivates the search for a system that can more accurately decide coverage location, number of passes, and control the overlap area for the pavement compaction operation. Such a system could increase the operational efficiency, uniform compaction, and pavement performance. This research aims at establishing the framework for an affordable path planning system for the compaction operation using an on-board guidance facility. This facility would integrate an Asphalt Knowledge-Based System with an economical sensing system , such as

Computer-integrated methodologies for real-time control of asphalt paving operations

A real-time control system is needed for measuring and improving productivity and quality in asphalt pavement operations . This paper presents four computerintegrated methodologies necessary to develop a real-time control system for asphalt paving operation. These methodologies include: ( 1) simulation modeling for optimal allocation of resources, (2) automatic truck dispatching system to maximize truck productivity. (3) Global Positioning System (GPS) for realtime positional data acquisition , and (4) semi-automated path-planning and real-time guidance system for rolling operations. Interrelating these independent methodologies using a systems approach will allow for the development of a real-time control system for asphalt paving operations. Developing a real-time control system by standardizing construction practices will create a system that is amenable to strict quality and cost control.

An implementation of light-weight compression algorithm for wireless sensor network technology in structure health monitoring

Internet-of-Thing (IoT) has been identified as one of the next generation technologies from different aspects. Among different technologies for IoT, wireless-sensor-network (WSN) is one of key technologies to be developed. To demonstrate WSN capabilities in applications, this work developed self-developed sensor node (Super-Node) and applied the device into an on-field structure-health-monitoring (SHM) task. The developed WSN system achieved requirements of SHM applications, i.e. 128 Hz sampling rate with tri-axial acceleration data within one sensor node. By acquired data, the developed system can make the prediction of structure status. In addition, a local-data-processing node and algorithm was also implemented to promote usability of WSN system in SHM applications. With Huffman code implemented, the wireless transmission payload was reduced by 60% and the node capacity can be increased by 3 times. This work not only demonstrated the capability of WSN technologies in on-field SHM applications but also provided a better solution for IoT development.

Quality assessment for LiDAR point cloud registration using in-situ conjugate features

This study aims to develop a quantitative approach for evaluating the quality of a LiDAR point cloud registration solution. First, a highly-efficient technique for integrating multiple LiDAR point clouds was introduced using directly the in-situ conjugate features (including point, linear, planar features and groups of points). Then by applying the Non-Iterative Solutions for Linear Transformations (NISLT) technique, the transformation between datasets can be directly solved without carrying out iterative computations or using any prior initial information. The weighted model for the observables was also developed to improve the reliability of obtained solutions. Finally, two quality indexes, namely the absolute consistency and relative geometric similarity, were proposed to give complete and realistic information on the quality of the integrated solutions. A case study for a real-field facility has also been performed to reveal the distinguishing capability and superiority of this newly-developed technique.