News & Events

Successful Completion of Aquila Project funded by Innovate UK

Together with our amazing collaborators, Okana, Northumbria University, Newcastle University, xbim Ltd, and GreyFox, we have delivered an end-to-end Digital Twin (DT) solution for construction equipment monitoring, designed to reduce excessive idling and save on fuel costs.
While most Digital Twin applications focus on the operational phase of built assets, our work explored the construction phase, particularly earthworks operations, an area often overlooked but highly resource-intensive.

Key highlights of our solution:
- Developed a custom Android application to collect multimodal sensor data (accelerometer, gyroscope, GPS).
- Applied unsupervised machine learning to classify equipment activity and detect inefficiencies.
- Designed a plug-and-play IoT device that delivers real-time alerts for proactive decision-making.
- Built a cloud-based pipeline with real-time dashboards, enabling scalable data analytics.

The prototype was successfully deployed on a Komatsu excavator at an active construction site in the North East, England, where it provided valuable insights into activity cycles, idle times, and overall operational efficiency. This project demonstrates the feasibility and impact of Digital Twins during construction phases, advancing data-driven construction management while tackling sustainability challenges.

Specifically, I again would like to say special thanks to the key Members of the project: Mohamad Kassem, Xiang Xie, Wahib Saif, Andy Ward, @paul thope, @Alistair McLeod, Dr Kay Rogage and Dr Dean Douglas for having me on board and for the invaluable learning I gained while working alongside you all.

Full_research_paper_on_this_work_will_be_shared_soon_at_NU-DICE Lab!

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Last modified: Thu, 18 Sep 2025 20:42:53 BST