Week 2 - Future Analysis Techniques - Group A

Think back in the last decade.  How much has technology improved over the past ten years?  Ten years ago, I was still using a 3.5 inch floppy disk to save word documents which would only hold 1.44 MB of data.  Fast forward to the present, I have a 16 GB flash drive that puts the old floppy to shame.  As time progresses, more and more improvements and advancements in technology will arise, giving way to more uses and easier access to data.  In addition, the way these new inventions and data are used will affect the way professionals will analyze different aspects of design.

The way professionals are using technologies to perform analyses is already being researched and used in many different fields.  One prime example is the use of AI algorithms to analyze and evaluate a treatment for a patient in the medical field.  According to researchers, the algorithm that they tested was not only able to give a better diagnosis of the patient by 41%, but it also significantly reduced the cost of the whole situation by up to 58%.  Since the AI is a computer, it uses data and historical details to diagnose a patient, rather than a human doctor’s intuition [3]. 

Although this is occurring in the medical, this same sort of use of future tech can be used to analyze the structures of today and of the future.  Companies like GE are already using this approach of intertwining technology and their production to more efficiently control their different departments [1].  This method that GE is doing and the way the tech is used in the medical field could be implemented into a building to help automate the whole structure through its construction and lifetime. During construction, BIM modeling can help stream line the design process by having the model ready for all parties involved, and during the lifetime of the structure, the different pieces of tech can relay messages regarding different aspects of the building.  For example, by having the computers analyze the data from the outside temperature and the data of how often doors and windows are open, the system can help regulate the HVAC systems more efficiently.  GE does this in regards to manufacturing.  By having the processes and the tech used effectively, a building can add thousands to its value, and in GE’s situation, add a trillion dollars to the company’s value [1].

One final bit of future analysis that could be used in intelligent buildings are data algorithms that can detect changes in a material’s behavior.  By using cameras, a computer could analyze the pixels of an image and decode those pixels to determine what was being seen in the photo.  It could then use pattern recognition to determine what is going on in the image and determine if any action is needed [2].  This is a great tool that could be used in the future to put cameras in different parts of structure for structural health monitoring.  With the cameras hooked up to a system, the code of a program could determine if a crack was generating in a weak spot and send notification that a plan of action must be taken.  My colleague, Matt Morimoto, goes more in depth about ways to test different structures and seeing if failure is possible in that structure.

With technology changing faster and faster each year, the possibilities of future analyzing techniques are endless.  Only time will tell regarding how these techniques will turn out.  One interesting advancement that can be seen in my group members post, Steve Bartel, is the ability of programmers creating robots that can adapt to situations by using data mining to gather several parcels of information to analyze a situation.

References:

[1] "General Electric Adds to Its ‘Industrial Internet’." Bits General Electric Adds to Its Industrial Internet Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2014.

[2] "Real “touch” Screens and Tasteful Computers: IBM Predicts the Future — Tech News and Analysis." Gigaom. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2014.

[3] "Researchers Say AI Prescribes Better Treatment than Doctors — Tech News and Analysis."Gigaom. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2014.