AE510 Reflection

I expected one of two things coming into this course, that it was going to be a BIM class or that it was going to be a class similar to the 390-391 series only on steroids.  Much to my surprise it was neither of these two.  For that I am glad.  I took the course because it sounded interesting but it was also one of the few graduate level courses that were offered this term.  Therefore, for it to be similar to my other classes would have been monotonous. 

All in all I found AE 510 to be a little disappointing.  I feel that for a graduate level course I didn’t really take out as much as I would have hoped.  I feel that we, as a class, just skimmed over any topic that was covered.  I understand that the large amount of material covered and the short 10-week terms makes it next to impossible to go in depth on any one specific topic without excluding another.  It would be nice if this course could be broken up into a two course series.  This would give the class 20-weeks to cover certain topics in much greater depth.  Several topics that I would like to have gone in more depth are artificial intelligence and robots in the construction industry.   

Several projects that I liked throughout the term were creating the family in Revit, and the database project.  These two projects dealt with topics that I had never covered before and I feel that they will be beneficial in the future, especially the database knowledge.  Modern day society is so dependent on databases that even a minor understanding can be extremely beneficial.  Knowing how to create families in Revit can also be very helpful in the professional world, although, I hope to never have to make one because it was somewhat annoying setting up all the parameters and relationships.  But it’s better to know and not need than need and not know. 

Alvarado notes that the guest speakers were a great aspect of the course.  I agree with the statement, “Every single guest speaker was very well chosen because they were all able to contribute with their insight at a topic we were covering.”  However, I don’t agree that every guest speaker was worth having.  I believe that Hue Robert’s Lecture was very well done; it gave me hope for the industry and the growing figures in infrastructure.  I also very glad to have Travis Peyton come speak with us.  He’s a man with great enthusiasm that can get anybody interested in engineering.  His talk on increasing building efficiency was very informative and worthwhile.  I did not think that Dr. Il-Yeol Song’s lecture was that beneficial.  It’s nothing against Dr. Song, his lecture was informative, however, a lot of the material that was covered had already been covered the week prior.  For example, he dedicated several slides to the one to many, many to many relationships that we had already discussed.  He also discussed SQL in depth, which we never used afterwards. 

Both Jeanine and Kayleigh mention the importance to stay up to date with technology.  This class was very beneficial in that scenario.  The topics covered are the up and coming topics in our field and to have a base knowledge, as stated before, is very beneficial, especially, upon entering the workforce.  Jeanine and Maria also reiterate what Professor Mitchell said at the beginning of the term, that it is easy to get by in this course but to get anything out of it the time must be committed.  I do take responsibility for not putting in as much effort as I would have liked.  I do think I could have gotten more out of the class by working harder.  I tell myself every term that I’m going to be a good student and do everything early so I have plenty of time to study and do projects, none of which ever happens.  

Infrared Thermometers

Mike does a great job summing up a wide variety of temperature sensors.  Back in high school I learned that the bimetallic strip was used to control thermostats.  The expansion of the metal at a specific temperature would close a circuit, thus turning on/off the HVAC system.  Now we have NEST, which is more accurate and efficient. 

I would like to expand on Infrared (IR) Thermometers.  These thermometers are essentially a laser gun that can read the temperature of an object without any contact.  This type of thermometer is has an increasing popularity in the food industry.  Chefs are using them to read the temperature of food so that they don’t have to puncture the food and because it gives a fast and accurate reading. 

Every object emits an invisible infrared energy.  IR is located on the electromagnetic spectrum between visible light and microwaves.  There are three ways to transfer this invisible heat: reflected, transmitted, and emitted.  The emitted energy is the only type of energy that can be used to get the actual surface temperature.  This is a disadvantage to this type of thermometer.  As I mentioned before this thermometer is becoming popular in the food industry.  If the food is under a heating lamp the temperature measured will also include that of the lamp.  Therefore, when taking the temperature of the food it should be in low light, or the light should be covered with a cloth.

 

Depending on how advanced the IR thermometer the emissivity value can be altered based on the material.  These values can be looked up in charts.  As a comparison, emissivity of aluminum and water are 0.77 and 0.95, respectively. 

Again these thermometers are growing in the food service industry. They are also great for monitoring equipment.  For example, they can be used to find hot or cold spots detecting leaks in HVAC equipment. 

Sources:

http://www.allqa.com/IR.htm

http://www.thermoworks.com/emissivity_table.html

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/laser-thermometer-how-does-it-work.html

Structured Query Language

As everyone else has been saying, SQL (Structured Query Language) is a computer language that specifically manages databases.  It happens to be one of the first commercial languages developed by IBM in 1970.  In 1986 SQL became a part of the American National Standard Institution (ANSI) and the International Organization for Standards (ISO).  This is to help keep the SQL up to date as with all of the other technology.  There are still some issues, however, with SQL code.  This is due to the standards not being followed as strictly as they should.  This goes along the lines of what John said about interoperability.  The standards are there so that SQL will always remain interoperable.  However, if they aren’t followed as specified, that is when there become problems. 

SQL has 6 major language elements, also brought up by John, which are clauses, expressions, predicates, queries, statements, and insignificant whitespaces.  The use of these elements can be seen in the following figure. 

Note that insignificant whitespaces are “insignificant.”  SQL ignores spaces and therefore they can be used to make the language readable. 

SQL language is used for two major reasons updating data and retrieving data from a database.  Most databases use SQL, however, often times they have their own extensions that will only be used on that specific system.  Although SQL is the only thing needed to do the basic maneuvering of a database, which are: Select, Insert, Update, Delete, Create, and Drop.  For anybody interested in getting a tutorial in SQL they should visit the website SQLCourse.com and it goes through the steps in making a simple database using SQL. 

As David pointed out, SQL is a great resource to have and is much more efficient than using a flat file database.  I like his example about Facebook and filtering all of the information down to what pertains to you.  This put everything into perspective for me.  Reading the Wikipedia page on SQL and other sources I was not following.  Only when I read this example did I understand the function of SQL, which made the other literature easier to comprehend. 

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQL

http://www.sqlcourse.com/index.html

Term Project - Residential Sensors

If you aren’t aware already, I am working with Mike Sawin and Jalpesh Patel on this term project.  Mike did a very nice job summing up our project.  We initially wanted to research the different methods of saving money in a household, like installing a Nest thermostat, but in the advice of Professor Mitchell we narrowed our research to how installing sensors into a residential household can make a home more efficient and could essentially make life easier. 

What sparked my interest in this project is how sensors can make life easier.  There has been little advancement since the dishwasher that makes our everyday lives easier.  Don’t get me wrong; there have been great advancement in technology that adds fun or convenience on an everyday basis, but they don’t necessarily make life easier.  I believe that is about to change with the use of sensors and it is a topic that we are going to discuss in our project. 

Just like Mike states, we will be looking into sensors that could be used in new and existing buildings that can be easily installed and have a payback time of less than 5 years.  I do not think that our expectation of payback will be an issue with the rapid decrease in cost of sensors. 

Finally, we want to discuss how the possible systems that can be installed in a residence can function together.  It is believed that these sensors should be able to communicate with each other wirelessly because working as a team goes a lot further than working individually. 

Looking at other people’s projects, I am really interested in Elda’s.  She is going to discuss robotics in construction, which is a topic of great debate (in my mind anyway).  I really like the fact that her and her team will be discussing the social and economic impacts because I always hear that the advancement in technology won’t increase unemployment but rather create jobs.  However, I always thought that it would create jobs in fields that the people that are being replaced aren’t qualified for.  Therefore, it has a negative social impact for the industry.  Again, I really look forward to seeing what research they come up with.  

Sources:

http://www.nest.com/

http://www.sensortech.ca/site/index.cfm

The Future of Uninteroperability

There is no doubt in my mind that BIM is the future of engineering.  It is only going to get more advanced and more critical for students to become familiar with the process.  That being said, I cannot say the same advancements will be made toward interoperability. 

As I said in last weeks post about being familiar with the hassle of interoperability through a team project.  Out of the 40 hours we were supposed to spend on the project we spent at least half of that trying to figure out how to transfer data from one program to another, and we still don’t have a fast and easy method to use. 

Mike says it perfectly, “[Interoperability] will only persist and grow into more of a headache as new technology constantly keeps pushing [...].”  This statement sums up that the path towards interoperability will be a struggle.  I find that the solution that he comes up with is flawed, however. I don’t feel that a program that can take any file type and format it into another file type with minimum loss is the solution.  Is it a good idea that should be pursued, of course, because it is a step in the right direction.  I just don’t feel that it will solve all of our problems.  The BIM software is constantly updating, and therefore, this new software would constantly have to be updated in order to be sufficient.  That is just another license that companies need to buy and those licenses aren’t cheap.  Kayleigh voiced her doubts about multiple licenses last week in class.  On another note, software packages like AutoCAD and Revit already have file converters that can take a file and convert it into other workable file types.

I personally think that it would be easier in our field, Architectural and Civil Engineering, to be more communicative with the people that are going to be working on the project.  Then there could be standards set on a per project basis.  The architects would know what the structural engineers are going to use and vice versa.  I also think that companies should be more flexible in the software packages that they use.  I have had experience where certain architects (and I know engineers do it to) ONLY use said program.  A lot of the programs structured similarly.  They might have minor differences but for the most part they all do the same thing.  A prime example of standards being set on a per project basis, that Eric mentioned last week, would be that any project done for the Army Corp of Engineers requires a Revit Model.  That being said, everything needs to be done in Revit.  That way the transfer of files will have limited flaws.  

Of course having standards on a per project basis isn’t ideal either.  It also requires multiple licenses, a lot of computing power, which in turn requires a lot of money.  That is the opposite of what companies want to do.  We are working towards a solution to minimize the 15.6 billion dollars that the industry wastes on interoperability.  In conclusion, I do not think interoperability will make much advancement in 5, 10, or even 15 years.  I think methods will be made in order to work with it and possibly even cut those 15.6 billion dollars in half, but I think it will be a consistent problem.