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BIM A+ Dissertation proposals (2020/2021)

PROPOSAL 03
Title: Visualizing monitoring data through BIM
Keywords (4-6): IoT, Digital Twin, Advanced visualization, Indoor monitoring
Abstract (between 400 and 500 words):
IoT devices are increasingly being deployed in the built environment and
industrial applications and can provide useful information related to built
environment and energy consumptions. Coupling this information with BIM
allows us to transform our interaction with the built environment and to improve
the experience for end users and service providers.
The topic of the dissertation is related to the development of digital twins that
integrates the indoor comfort and the energy consumption data collected by a
multiple sensors system with a BIM-based model. The integration of the comfort
data, derived from multiple sensors, into the BIM model, allows to automatically
combine the monitored data with the related geometrical space in the model.
This enables visualizing the fulfilment of certain level of indoor environment
quality (IEQ) and creating a comprehensive database of information in a unique
model. Moreover, this information can be shown to different user typologies,
according to the type of information that they want to see, by using the support
of advanced digital tools. This can increase their awareness of the energy
consumption and can help in optimizing the management of technical building
equipment, such as heating or cooling systems. The developed methodology for
linking this data with BIM is tested and validated on real case studies.
The main goals of the dissertation are:
- State-of-the-art analysis of digital twin representations of data in the field
of energy consumption and indoor environment quality collected by IoT
devices.
- Development of a Digital Twin model including the IoT devices and the
type of use of two case studies (residential and non-residential buildings).
- Linking the data of a real time database with a BIM-based model.
- Development of a visualization dashboard to show the data to different
user typologies.
- Development of advanced visualization methodologies of monitored data
by means of advanced digital support such as AR, VR and MR.
Depending on the personal interests of the candidate, a main focus can be
decided within first months in the dissertation project.

University of Minho
University of Ljubljana www.bimaplus.org
Politecnico di Milano
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Depending on this decision you will be able to increase your knowledge in:
• Practical use of BIM-based software like Autodesk Revit.
• Basic knowledge of IoT devices and the necessary infrastructure.
• Digital Twin representation and the use of BIM in this context on real use
cases.
• Development of user-defined interfaces to other software tools, e.g., real-
time database and software for mixed reality development.
• Basic knowledge in advanced visualization methodologies, mainly mixed
reality.
We offer you to work within a highly interdisciplinary team with a strong focus on
innovative digitalization methods and tools. In our laboratory environment we
have access to all necessary BIM and IoT infrastructure. We are equipped with
most recent hardware for AR, VR and MR, like HoloLens 2 and iPad Pro.
Available resources:
Supervisor Name: Lavinia Tagliabue
Supervisor E-mail: lavinia.tagliabue@unibs.it
If a company or external institution is involved:
Name of company/institution: Fraunhofer Italia Research s.c.a.r.l.
Address: Via Volta 13A
Tutor in company/institution:
Paola Penna / Alice Schweigkofler / Dietmar Siegele
Host Institution: PoliMi
Location: Italy

University of Minho
University of Ljubljana www.bimaplus.org
Politecnico di Milano