Journal
AUTOMATION IN CONSTRUCTION
Volume 130, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.autcon.2021.103851
Keywords
Blockchain; Collaborative BIM; Common data environment (CDE); Hyperledger fabric; Interplanetary File System (IPFS); Smart contract
Funding
- Innovation and Technology Fund, HKSAR [ITP/052/20LP]
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The DCDE framework utilizes blockchain and IPFS to create a distributed common data environment for BIM-based design, ensuring irreversible design changes storage and secure design file storage. Performance testing shows that DCDE latency, TPS, and storage costs are within acceptable ranges, demonstrating its feasibility as a secure design collaboration solution.
Existing platforms for collaborative BIM design have a centralized system architecture, which suffers cybersecurity risks of design data manipulation and denial of access, leading to a loss of data traceability, a decline in design productivity, and project delays. Blockchain is a promising technology to solve such risks by providing decentralized and immutable data storage. However, integrating blockchain with BIM faces a problem that blockchain is inherently unsuitable for storing large-sized design files like BIM models, hindering blockchain from protecting BIM data integrity. Therefore, this paper proposes a distributed common data environment (DCDE) framework for BIM-based design leveraging two distributed technologies: blockchain and Interplanetary File System (IPFS). The DCDE framework guarantees irreversible design changes storage using blockchain while secures design file storage using IPFS. A blockchain transaction data model and a smart contract are also developed within the framework to support DCDE functionalities. Lastly, framework applicability and performance are tested in an illustrative design example. Results show that: (1) DCDE is a feasible solution for secure design collaboration, and (2) DCDE latency (in millisecond-level), TPS (60 transactions per second), and storage cost (12.5 KB per day) are within an acceptable range.
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