New airport comes with new construction tech

Beijing's new airport - currently under construction in the southern part of the city - is loaded with quality innovations that will make it one of the most efficient in the world, even as it becomes the world's largest airport.

The long-term goal for the facility is to handle up to 100 million passengers and 4 million tons of cargo each year.

A digital GPS control system was adopted for a ground compactor - a machine with a crane and a hanging hammer that repeatedly slams into the ground to compress soil and gravel in the construction of the roads and in laying the foundation of the runways. To make runways of high quality, it's essential that the underlying ground is compacted to prevent earth movement that can crack or otherwise damage the runway surface.