Paper · 2021
FARM
- Type
- Paper, group project
- Title
- Facility Augmented Reality Management
- University
- RWTH Aachen
- Field
- CAAD
- Topics
- Augmented reality, mixed reality, Android, facility management, mobile app
The app navigates through a building based on its BIM model and colour-codes objects by condition: in need of repair, expired or to be monitored. Built with Unreal Engine for Android smartphones with ARCore.
FARM is the prototype of a smartphone app for facility management. It is meant to support monitoring a building and to speed up the digital exchange of data between a building’s users and the facility manager. The template comes from intralogistics, where AR smart glasses guide order pickers through the warehouse to the goods they are looking for. The prototype shows only part of the concept and serves as a first illustration of the idea.
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Using the example of a larger office complex, the app guides users to the room they are looking for, based on an imported BIM model. The building’s users flag defects themselves in AR mode, for example a broken coffee machine. The traffic-light principle sets the colours: red marks objects in need of repair, yellow those past their expiry date and green areas that should be monitored. The facility manager sees every report in a list and, on the next inspection round, in augmented reality directly in the room.
The conclusion rates the FARM concept a useful application of augmented reality in facility management. Navigation is a good way to find rooms in larger building complexes. What remains open is exact calibration: in the prototype the door handle at the entrance is the starting point, while in a larger complex a barcode could suit better. With a more fully developed database, areas for cost and task management could be added, and the BCF format could improve the exchange among those involved in the BIM model.