Digital twin-enabled real-time synchronization for planning, scheduling, and execution in precast on-site assembly

Planning, scheduling, and execution (PSE) are essential for coordinating tasks during on-site assembly in prefabricated construction. Real-time synchronization supports collaborative decision making for planning and scheduling, and dynamic adjustment of execution in on-site assembly. However, simple and resilient mechanisms are lacking for on-site task allocation and performance in urban areas with limited buffers, and real-time information hasn't been fully used for automatic generation and adjustment of PSE. This paper proposes a digital twin-enabled real-time synchronization system (DT-SYNC), which aims to facilitate PSE using real-time resource status and construction progress information obtained from high-fidelity digital twins. Inspired by functional tickets in graduation ceremony, a real-time synchronization model with cyber-physical visibility and traceability is designed to organize and coordinate operations and resources with enhanced simplicity and resilience, which guarantees that appropriate resources are spatiotemporally allocated to appropriate activities. A numerical experiment and related robotic testbed demonstration are conducted for proof of concept.