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The purpose of this study is to understand the effects of building components of a growing concrete structure and different building materials such as glass and steel on Wi-Fi signals propagation in a construction site. Wireless local area networks are considered effective tools to link the islands-of-communication in construction. Still, designing a Wi-Fi network that can grow with a new construction requires that one understands the performance of propagation of electromagnetic signals transmitted at 2.4 GHz.

This paper reviews the theoretical behavior of electromagnetic signals when signal attenuation is caused by various construction materials changing their strengths, directions and possibly leading to total absorption. The authors used a typical building layout to conduct experimental work to measure the effect of common building features and communication technologies on signal strengths.

The measured data not only confirmed the theory-based predictions but also demonstrated the complexity of predicting signal propagation when obstructions inhibit the line-of-sight “travel” of electromagnetic signals.

Different to other papers, the experiments were conducted outside a concrete building mimicking the situation where the transmitter is set up at the site office.

Research into the construction industry’s adoption of modern equipment technologies, such as remote-controlled trucks, excavators and drones, has been neglected in comparison to the significant body of research into the adoption of information technology in construction. Construction research has also neglected to adequately consider the important role of vendors in the innovation diffusion process, focussing mostly on the role of the customer. Set within the context of Australia’s construction industry, the purpose of this paper is to address these gaps in knowledge by exploring the role of customers and vendors in the diffusion of modern equipment technologies into the construction industry.

Using contemporary models of innovation diffusion which move beyond the simple dualistic problem of whether innovation is supply-pushed or demand-pulled, 19 semi-structured interviews were undertaken with customers and vendors involved in two major modern equipment technology trade exhibitions in Australia. This was followed by the collection of documentary data in the form of photos, directory books, marketing material, catalogues, websites and booth and exhibition layouts to validate the proposed model and provide insights into vendor marketing strategies. These data were analysed using both content analysis and principal component analysis (PCA).

According to the PCA and content analysis, vendor’s engagement in the adoption of modern equipment technologies falls into three stages that correspond to three stages in the customer’s adoption process. In the first stage, customers identify possible solutions and recognise new technologies following a previous recognition of a need. Vendors provide facilities for attracting potential customers and letting customers know that their technology exists and can help solve the customer’s problem. The second stage involves customers gaining knowledge about the details of the new technology, and vendors focusing on detailed knowledge transfer through written materials and demonstrations of the functionality of the new technology. In the third stage, customers have specific questions that they want answered to assist them in comparing different vendors and solutions. By this stage, vendors have built a close relationship with the customer and in contrast to earlier stages engage in two-way communication to help the customer’s decision process by addressing specific technical and support-related questions.

The originality and value of this research is in addressing the lack of research in modern equipment technology adoption for building construction and the lack of data on the role of vendors in the process by developing a new empirical framework which describes the stages in the process and the ways that customers and vendors interact at each stage. The results indicate that conceptually, as the construction industry becomes more industrialised, current models of innovation adoption will need to develop to reflect this growing technological complexity and recognise that vendors and customers engage differently in the adoption process, according to the type of technology they wish to adopt.

This paper aims to review the status of development of building information modelling (BIM), its trends and themes across the six continents of the world.

A total of 914 journal articles sought from the search engine of Web of Science (WOS) based on the country/region option of the WOS to group them into continents. A best-fit approach was then applied in selecting the suitable software programmes for the scientometric analysis and comparisons and deductions were made.

The findings revealed that there are differences in the development of BIM across the six continents of the world. South America and Africa are lagging in the BIM research and Australia and Asia are growing, whilst Europe and North America are ahead. In addition, there exist differences in the research themes and trends in these continents as against the single view presented in extant studies.

This study introduced a new approach to carry out a comparative and taxonomic review and has provided both academic researchers and industrial practitioners with a clear status of development of BIM research and the trend across the six continents of the world.

The development of communication and artificial intelligence technologies has raised interest in connectivity and increased autonomy of automated earthmoving equipment for earthwork. These changes are motivating work to reduce uncertainties, in terms of improving equipment object detection capability and reducing strikes and accidents on site. The purpose of this study is to illustrate industrial drivers for automated earthwork systems; identify the specific capabilities which make the transformation happen; and finally determine use cases that create value for the system. These three objectives act as components of a technology roadmap for automated and connected earthwork and can guide development of new products and services.

This paper used a text mining approach in which the required data was captured through a structured literature review, and then expert knowledge was used for verification of the results.

Automated and connected earthwork can enhance construction site and its embraced infrastructure, resilience by avoiding human faults during operations. Automating the monitoring process can lead to reliable anticipation of problems and facilitate real-time responses to unexpected situation via connectedness capabilities. Research findings are presented in three sections: industrial perspectives, trends and drivers for automated and connected earthwork; capabilities which are met by technologies; and use cases to demonstrate different capabilities.

This study combines the results of disintegrated and fragmented research in the area of automated and connected earthwork and categorises them under new capability levels. The identified capabilities are classified in three main categories including reliable environmental perception, single equipment decision-making toward safe outcomes and fleet-level safety enhancement. Finally, four different levels of automation are proposed for earthwork technology roadmap.