Public defence in Building Technology, M.Sc. Eelon Lappalainen

Title of the Thesis: Digital Situational Awareness Systems for Infrastructure Project Management: Characteristics, Development, and Perceptions

Doctoral student: Eelon Lappalainen
Opponent: Prof. Burcu Akinci, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
Custos: Prof Olli Seppänen, Aalto University School of Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering

Complex infrastructure projects, such as public transportation projects, are difficult to manage and frequently result in schedule and budget overruns. PhD researcher Eelon Lappalainen's dissertation "Digital Situational Awareness Systems for Infrastructure Project Management: Characteristics, Development, and Perceptions" investigates how digital situational awareness and situational management systems have been used to improve infrastructure project management. 

The study examined five case studies and conducted 65 interviews with construction industry specialists. The results reveal that theoretical situational awareness models differ significantly from practical infrastructure project implementations. In theory, situational awareness systems should cover data collecting, analysis, and future forecasting, as well as supporting data-driven decision making with the system's assistance. However, the situational awareness systems developed mostly focused on data collecting, leaving analysis and forecasting to manual labour and human interpretation. The paper also discusses how the construction industry's hierarchical and person-cantered culture influences the usage of these systems. Data validation and decision-making frequently rely on responsible persons' experience and intuition, reducing trust in the information offered by technology. 

The study's primary results: 

1. Include a focus on human-centeredness and technology limits. Users must understand and manually process systems, unlike in industries like aviation and healthcare where automation is essential. 
2. Trust issues: Users rely on those in control rather than the information provided by the systems, limiting the objective use of data. 
3. Limited application: technologies are primarily utilized for project management, with the unique issues of construction sites and design being overlooked. 
4. Data quality: Much of the data is still obtained manually, reducing the system's efficiency. 

The thesis suggests that situational awareness systems have the potential to improve infrastructure project decision-making, but their development should prioritize increased automation and better consideration of site and design requirements. Recommendations include connecting the systems with existing digital tools throughout design and construction site.

Key words: situational awareness, situation picture, situational management, construction management, infrastructure, individual judgement, building, design management, decision-making

Thesis available for public display 10 days prior to the defence at: https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/doc_public/eonly/riiputus/

Contact information: Eelon Lappalainen, [email protected], tel.: +358408359802

Doctoral theses of the School of Engineering: https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/49