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Yu Hou

Assistant Professor, 
Western New England University

Education

  • Doctoral Degree, Civil Engineering, University of Southern California

  • Master's Degree, Computer Science, University of Southern California

  • Bachelor's Degree, Construction Management, China University of Mining and Technology

Skills

  • Virtual Reality

  • Computer Vision

  • Energy Audits

  • Digital Twins

Publications

Peer-Reviewed Journal Papers:

 

  1. Nicolas Gratius, Zhichen Wang, Min Young Hwang, Yu Hou, Annika Rollock, Cory George, Mario Bergés, and Burcu AkinciDigital Twin Technologies for Autonomous Environmental Control and Life Support Systems. Journal of Aerospace Information Systems 2024 21:4, 332-347. https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/full/10.2514/1.I011320

  2. Zoe Mayer, James Kahn, Markus Götz, Yu Hou, Tobias Beiersdörfer, Rebekka Volk (2023) Thermal Bridges on Building Rooftops (TBBR) (IF: 8.501; 2023), Scientific Data DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02140-z  

  3. Nicolas Gratius, Yu Hou, Mario Bergés, Burcu Akinci, (2023) Lessons learned on the implementation of probabilistic graphical model-based digital twins: A space habitat study, Journal of Space Safety Engineering, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsse.2023.04.001    

  4. Zoe Mayer, James Kahn, Yu Hou, Tobias Beiersdörfer, Rebekka Volk (2023) Deep Learning Approaches to Building Rooftop Thermal Bridge Detection from Aerial Images, Automation in Construction (IF:10.517; 2023) DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2022.104690

  5. Yu Hou, Rebekka Volk, Lucio Soibelman, (2021). “An Innovative Approach to Simulating Temperature Information for Generating Synthetic Aerial Thermal Images for Enlarging Deep Learning Training Datasets,” Energies (IF:3.004) 2021, 14, 353. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/en14020353

  6. Yu Hou, Rebekka Volk, Meida Chen, Lucio Soibelman, (2021). "Data Fusion of Tie Points’ RGB and Thermal Information for Mapping Large Areas: A Study of Fusion Performance under Experimental Conditions," Automation in Construction (IF:7.700) 2021, 124 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2021.103554

  7. Yu Hou, Meida Chen, Rebekka Volk, Lucio Soibelman, (2021). “An Innovative Approach to RGB Point Cloud and Thermal Information Data Fusion for Building Thermal Map Modeling Using Aerial Images: Fusion Performance Results under Different Experimental Conditions,” Journal of Building Engineering (IF:5.318). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2021.103380 

  8. Yu Hou, Rebekka Volk, Lucio Soibelman, (2021). An Approach to Semantically Segmenting Building Components and Outdoor Scenes Based on Multi-channel Aerial Imagery Datasets. Remote Sensing (IF:4.848). DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13214357

 

Peer-Reviewed Conference Papers:

 

  1. Zihao Wang, Yu Hou. Lucio Soibelman, A New Method of Pixel-level In-situ U-value Measurement for Building Envelopes Based on Infrared Thermography, The 2023 ASCE International Conference on Computing in Civil Engineering (i3CE 2023). 2023. (Accepted)

  2. Yu Hou, Rebekka Volk, Conceptual Design of a Digital Twin-Enabled Building Envelope Energy Audits and Multi-Fidelity Simulation Framework for a Computationally Explainable Retrofit Plan. BuildSys '22: Proceedings of the 9th ACM International Conference on Systems for Energy-Efficient Buildings, Cities, and Transportation, November 2022 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3563357.3567831

  3. Meida Chen, Andrew Feng, Yu Hou. Ground material classification and for UAV-based photogrammetric 3D data A 2D-3D Hybrid Approach. The 2021 Annual Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference (I/ITSEC)  2021 DOI: http://arxiv.org/pdf/2109.12221 

  4. Yu Hou, Zoe Mayer, Rebekka Volk. Lucio Soibelman. A Computer Vision Approach for Building Facade Component Segmentation on 3D Point Cloud Models Reconstructed by Aerial Images. The 28th International workshop on intelligent computing in engineering, 2021. DOI: https://depositonce.tu-berlin.de/handle/11303/13226

  5. Zoe Mayer, Yu Hou, Rebekka Volk. AI-based thermal bridge detection of building roofs on district scale using drones. The 28th International workshop on intelligent computing in engineering, 2021. DOI: https://depositonce.tu-berlin.de/handle/11303/13226

  6. Yu Hou, Siyuan Yao, Lucio Soibelman. Optimization for RGB Point Cloud and Thermal Information Data Fusion to Model Building Thermal Map. The 2021 ASCE International Conference on Computing in Civil Engineering (i3CE 2021) (Accepted, In press)

  7. Yu Hou. Lucio Soibelman. Rebekka Volk. Meida Chen. Factors Affecting the Performance of 3D Thermal Mapping for Energy Audits in A District by Using Infrared Thermography (IRT) Mounted on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). In Proceedings of the 36th International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction (ISARC) 2019, Banff, AB, Canada, 21–24 May 2019; pp. 266–273, DOI: https://doi.org/10.22260/ISARC2019/0036

  8. Yu Hou. Lucio Soibelman. & Yan, Jin. Enhanced Simulations in Architectural and Engineering (A&E) Design Processes: A Data-Driven Approach. The 2019 ASCE International Conference on Computing in Civil Engineering (i3CE 2019). 2019. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1061/9780784482421.079

  9. Jianliang Zhou., Jihan Fang. & Yu Hou. System Dynamics Model for the Effect of Stakeholders on Construction Safety. International Conference on Construction and Real Estate Management (ICCREM, 2014): 868-874. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1061/9780784413777.102

 

Open-Source Datasets:

 

  1. Yu Hou, Rebekka Volk, Lucio Soibelman. Building Object and Outdoor Scene Segmentation (BOOSS) - Multi-channel (RGB + Thermal) Aerial Imagery Datasets. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5241286

  2. Zoe Mayer, Yu Hou, James Kahn, Tobias Beiersdörfer, Rebekka VolkThermal Bridges on Building Rooftops - Hyperspectral (RGB + Thermal + Height) drone images of Karlsruhe, Germany, with thermal bridge annotations. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4767772

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