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A safety management tool for bridges, viaducts and critical infrastructures

This advanced sensor system constantly monitors the structural health of buildings and other structures, thereby, avoiding negative consequences

 

Infrastructure security is a topic that is an ever-recurring theme that requires urgent attention, especially in light of the tragic events that have filled the news, such as the collapse of the Morandi Bridge (Ponte Morandi) in Genoa.

In fact, Italy is a country with a high hydrogeological and seismic risk, and this means that all the structures that allow people to move from a point A to a point B every day must necessarily be constantly monitored and, as far as possible, properly maintained.

For this reason, specific instruments and tools are becoming increasingly indispensable to constantly monitor the structural integrity, i.e., the “health” and safety of bridges, viaducts, pylons, railways, aqueducts, and similar structures. From Rome, in this regard, comes an interesting and very helpful project. Let’s see what it is all about.

 

foto: David Stanley/Flickr
Photo: David Stanley/Flickr

 

In full compliance with the Internet of Things (IoT), a neologism that indicates the practical uses and possible evolutions in the use of the Internet for concrete purposes and objects, Eugenio Sabatella and Massimo Marini at  Proesys Technologies have devised a complete solution for the maintenance and monitoring of road bridges and other infrastructures denominated as “critical”.

Thanks to technologies with low energy consumption, vibrations, inclinations, temperatures, physical shocks, stretching, twisting and earthquakes can be immediately measured and recorded by special sensors.

These sensors are able to analyze on their own what they learn in the field and, at a later time, to send data over long-range radio. From a special gateway and/or concentrator, the characteristics of bridges and viaducts are networked via ethernet, wi-fi or satellite so that the data can be processed and elaborated for eventual interventions.

 

Il sensore per il monitoraggio di ponti e infrastrutture creato da Sabatella e Marini
The sensor for monitoring bridges and infrastructures created by Sabatella and Marini

It is undoubtedly a project as innovative as it is useful for saving human lives as well as safeguarding structures by its ability to immediately identify and rectify any evidence of poor maintenance. You can discover it, along with many other innovative ideas in the field of structural integrity and security, at Maker Faire Rome – the European Edition 2019, the world-famous innovative technology fair that will take place from 18 to 20 October at Fiera di Roma.