Building applications for smart and safe construction with the DECENTER Fog Computing and Brokerage Platform

Various smart applications are needed to address complex problems in construction falling under the broad categories of safety at work, construction site management, management of resources, waste and assets and construction progress monitoring. Fog computing emerges as a new computing paradigm for Edge-to-Cloud computing that integrates Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Blockchain technologies to facilitate the development and operation of smart applications. However, a comprehensive methodology that applies Fog computing to construction projects is currently missing. In our work, we use the novel DECENTER Fog Computing and Brokerage Platform to address requirements for flexible use of AI methods in construction projects and develop a relevant methodology. Evaluation is performed through all application development phases at a real construction site in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Testing results show that the use of Fog computing contributes to high response rates, privacy and security when processing sensitive worker and company data. •New methodology applying fog computing to achieve smart construction sites•Flexible combination of AI methods to fit a variety of construction projects•QoS-aware orchestration of the AI applications for dependable response time•Privacy preserving data management through Ethereum-based Smart Contracts•Experimental study showing methodology's applicability and resulting performance