Zainai Mohamed

Integration of cyber-physical systems technology with augmented reality in the pre-construction stage

Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) is a computerized networking system that integrates with physical processes. The lack of theoretical foundation in CPS has resulted with this study, which aims to provide a holistic view of Cyber-Physical Systems and its integration with Augmented Reality (AR) as a decision support tool in the pre-construction stage. It will then discuss the problems that arise and propose the use of location aware mobile augmented reality handheld system as a support tool to provide users with an intuitive information visualization of local network infrastructures.

The potential of augmented reality technology for pre-construction

Construction project management covering various aspects such as planning, coordinating, directing, scheduling, monitoring and control. Pre-construction services are used in planning a construction project before the actual construction begins. However, various problems happened at the pre-construction planning stage. This paper present an overview of the major problems in pre-construction stage and look at the potential of using augmented reality technology to overcome those problems. It was found that, at the pre-construction stage, good planning can not be done by the project teams especially to engineers and contractors due to the lack of supporting data, particularly when it involves information relating to underground utilities such as telecommunications, gas, electricity, water and sewerage. There are several approaches that can been undertaken in pre-construction services, especially in making an informed decision. The potential technology is using Augmented Reality (AR)-based approach in pre-construction service. Augmented reality is the integration of digital information with the users environment in real-time. It was one of the tool that support the concept of cyber-physical systems (CPS). CPS is the integration systems between computational network and physical processes. Currently, there are many fields utilised the application of AR such as medical, militiry, vehicles, gaming and navigation. This paper presents the applications of an AR-based approach to medical and gaming industry and explore the potential of using AR in pre-construction. The finding shows that the AR is a potential decision support tool that will speed up the planning process of the project team in the pre-construction phase in real-time.

Challenges in implementing engineering technology education in Malaysia

As Malaysia races against time to achieve Vision 2020 to be a developed nation, there is an urgent need for highly-skilled human resources to fulfill the requirements of the industry. This calls for an expansion of the engineering technology program to increase the number of technical graduates. However, various challenges are faced by the institutions in the implementation of the Engineering Technology programs, which have significant negative impact on the nation in general and in particular the graduates from the programs. Data was collected from a brainstorming session between six organizations involved in providing engineering technology education in Malaysia and the UniversitiTeknologi Malaysia (UTM) and a convention on Engineering Technology Future in Malaysia. These challenges are categorized into four and discussed in this paper.