4D construction simulation made immersive
Pulling the Synchro experience into HoloLens has been a game-changer. Users can now “digitally rehearse” 4D construction projects with a high degree of accuracy and detail. The HoloLens overlays the dimensional Synchro graphics on the job site, and the user can watch as structures are built and systems are installed across the timeline.
Early users have been amazed. “People love this. It’s so cool to watch them move their heads around and walk inside the model at one-to-one scale, which usually blows them away because it’s the first time they can actually feel the scale of what they’re working on,” says Demchak. “But beyond the cool factor, it can help our customers win jobs. That just happened in the UK, where our customer used the HoloLens in their presentation, and it helped them win a huge job.”
Through the immersive HoloLens experience, users get a much more impactful visual reference for what they’re building. “If you see it better, you’re going to do it better,” says Demchak.
Mobilizing Synchro simulation with the help of Microsoft Azure
“We’re also looking at field applications,” says Demchak. “Inspectors could use it to check quality, validate the completion of tasks, and identify issues in the field in real-time. We need to make it easy to interact with 4D models, and that means making apps that are intuitive. The mixed reality aspect of HoloLens gives us that opportunity.”
Synchro files are data-heavy, and require powerful processing to render and animate smoothly. But high-end workstations aren’t usually available in the field. So, Synchro took advantage of Azure GPU–enabled virtual machines to offload graphics processing from end-user devices like tablets and HoloLens.
“When we use our mobile app or HoloLens in a remote situation, the experience is seamless. You can’t even tell you’re running the Synchro app on a cloud server and not on a local machine,” says Demchak.
Leveraging data for business intelligence and machine learning
Over the course of a project, Synchro files contain growing stores of data that can be used for analysis and reporting purposes. “As field inspectors keep track of progress, the data just feeds into the Synchro project database,” says Demchak. “So, we’re able to pull that data into Microsoft Power Platform and run some analysis and produce visual reports that give business stakeholders a sense of progress.”
Synchro is also looking at Microsoft Azure Machine Learning for future opportunities and capabilities. “We could start feeding data across projects into machine learning and start analyzing timelines, tasks, and other variables, and see what patterns emerge that could be useful in further improving practices and making business decisions,” says Demchak.
Breakthrough innovation built on partnership
Partnering with Microsoft was key in the rapid progress Synchro has achieved in just this past year. “Working with Microsoft has been really good,” says Demchak. “They’ve been very supportive in advocating for us and involving us in multiple hackathons to really develop and advance our technology. Our team really enjoys the spirit of those events and the chance to work together with Microsoft people on getting real stuff made.”