Sensing technologies demonstrate promising potential in providing the construction industry with a safe, productive, and high-quality process. The majority of sensing technologies in the construction research area have been focused on construction automation research in prefabrication, on-site operation, and logistics. However, most of these technologies are either not implemented in real construction projects or are at the very early stages in practice. The corresponding applications are far behind, even in extensively researched aspects such as Radio Frequency Identification, ultra-wideband technology, and Fiber Optic Sensing technology. This review systematically investigates the current status of sensing technologies in construction from 187 articles and explores the reasons responsible for their slow adoption from 69 articles. First, this paper identifies common sensing technologies and investigates their implementation extent. Second, contributions and limitations of sensing technologies are elaborated to understand the current status. Third, key factors influencing the adoption of sensing technologies are extracted from construction stakeholders’ experience. Demand towards sensing technologies, benefits and suitability of them, and barriers to their adoption are reviewed. Lastly, the governance framework is determined as the research tendency facilitating sensing technologies adoption. This paper provides a theoretical basis for the governance framework development. It will promote the sensing technologies adoption and improve construction performance including safety, productivity, and quality.

Sensing technologies present great improvements in construction performance including the safety, productivity, and quality. However, the corresponding applications in real projects are far behind compared with the academically research. This research aims to discover dominate influence factors in the sensing technologies adoption and ultimately develop a governance framework facilitating adoption processes. The framework is dedicated on general sensing technologies rather than single sensor in previous framework studies. To begin with, the influence factors of sensing technologies and other similar emerging technologies are summarised through a review. Then, a mixed methods design was employed to collect quantitative data through an online survey, and qualitative data through semi-structured interviews. Findings of the quantitative method reveal that the most widely implemented sensing technologies are GPS and visual sensing technology, but they’re still not adopted by all construction companies. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling reveals that supplier characteristics have the highest effect in all influence factors. Qualitative method was adopted to investigate perceptions of construction stakeholders on the major decision-making considerations in the adoption process. Ultimately, a triangulation analysis of findings from the literature review, online survey and interviews resulted in the governance framework development. The overarching contribution of this research focus on the general adoption of sensing technologies rather than the adoption of a specific sensor. Therefore, the governance framework can assist with the decision-making process of any sensing technology adoption in construction.

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