Innovation Knowledge Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction

基础设施是英国资产的一大部分。有效管理和维护基础设施对经济和社会至关重要。将新兴技术应用于对现有关键基础设施资产进行先进的健康监测，将量化和确定基础设施老化的程度和随之而来的剩余设计寿命，从而降低故障风险。新兴技术还将通过以综合方式实现建筑和基础设施可持续发展的终身方法来改变该行业--设计和调试、施工过程、开发和使用，以及最终的停产。这些新兴技术的关键要素将是将最新的传感器技术、数据管理工具和制造流程应用于建筑业，无论是在基础设施建设期间还是在其整个设计生命周期中。建造业，特别是承建商、专业仪器公司和基础设施的拥有人，对这些技术的开发将有一个非常巨大的市场。在这项建议中，我们寻求创建智能基础设施和建设创新和知识中心，该中心将汇集剑桥工程系和计算机实验室(传感器、计算、制造工程和土木工程)的四个领先研究小组，以及其他学院的工作人员-佳奇商学院和建筑系。该中心将开发新兴技术并将其商业化，这些技术将彻底改变基础设施的建设和管理，从而显著提高效率、经济性和适应性。我们建议创建具有以下属性的“智能基础设施”：(A)在施工期间最大限度地减少干扰和最高效率；(B)对新基础设施进行最小限度的维护和对现有基础设施进行最佳管理；(C)即使在极端事件(火灾、自然灾害、气候变化)期间也尽量减少故障；以及(D)在生命周期结束时尽量减少浪费材料。IKC将专注于传感器和数据管理领域新兴技术的创新使用(例如，光纤、MEMS、计算机视觉、电力采集、射频识别(RFID)和无线传感器网络)。此外，还将采用适用于建筑和基础设施的最新制造和供应链管理方法(例如，用于生命周期适应性设计的智能建筑部件、创新的制造流程、综合供应链管理以及从建筑到城市的智能管理流程)等新出现的最佳做法。它的目标是开拓全新的市场和实现业绩的突破。建筑和基础设施领域的商机非常可观，不仅对建筑公司来说，而且对其他行业，如信息技术、电子和材料行业也是如此。IKC的目的是直接和系统地回应从行业伙伴那里收到的关于解决这一问题所需的投入。通过工业界在技术开发和实际建设项目中的示范的密切参与，新兴技术的商业化活动将在项目期间得到进展，达到可以向工业界发放许可证的程度。IKC的成果将为建筑业、基础设施所有者和运营商提供手段，以确保能够实现非常具有挑战性的新业绩目标。此外，潜在的突破将使该行业更有效率，从而更有利可图。它们还将使英国企业在日益全球化的建筑市场获得竞争优势。

Infrastructure is a large part of the UK's assets. Efficient management and maintenance of infrastructure are vital to the economy and society. The application of emerging technologies to advanced health monitoring of existing critical infrastructure assets will quantify and define the extent of ageing and the consequent remaining design life of infrastructure, thereby reducing the risk of failure. Emerging technologies will also transform the industry through a whole-life approach to achieving sustainability in construction and infrastructure in an integrated way - design and commissioning, the construction process, exploitation and use, and eventual de-commissioning. Crucial elements of these emerging technologies will be the application of the latest sensor technologies, data management tools and manufacturing processes to the construction industry, both during infrastructure construction and throughout its design life. There will be a very substantial market for exploitation of these technologies by the construction industry, particularly contractors, specialist instrumentation companies and owners of infrastructure.In this proposal, we seek to create the Innovation and Knowledge Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction that will bring together four leading research groups in the Cambridge Engineering Department and the Computer Laboratory (sensors, computing, manufacturing engineering and civil engineering), along with staff in other faculties - the Judge Business School and the Department of Architecture. The Centre will develop and commercialise emerging technologies which will provide radical changes in the construction and management of infrastructure, leading to considerably enhanced efficiencies, economies and adaptability. We propose to create 'Smart Infrastructure' with the following attributes: (a) minimal disturbance and maximum efficiency during construction, (b) minimal maintenance for new infrastructure and optimum management of existing infrastructure, (c) minimal failures even during extreme events (fire, natural hazards, climate change), and (d) minimal waste materials at the end of the life cycle. The IKC will focus on the innovative use of emerging technologies in sensor and data management (e.g. fibre optics, MEMS, computer vision, power harvesting, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), and Wireless Sensor Networks). These will be coupled with emerging best practice in the form of the latest manufacturing and supply chain management approaches applied to construction and infrastructure (e.g. smart building components for life-cycle adaptive design, innovative manufacturing processes, integrated supply chain management, and smart management processes from building to city scales). It will aim to develop completely new markets and achieve breakthroughs in performance.The business opportunities in construction and infrastructure are very considerable, not only for construction companies but also for other industries such as IT, electronics and materials. The IKC is designed to respond directly and systematically to the input received from industry partners on what is required to address this issue. Through the close involvement of industry in technical development as well as in demonstrations in real construction projects, the commercialisation activities of emerging technologies will be progressed during the project to a point where they can be licensed to industry. The outputs of the IKC will provide the construction industry, infrastructure owners and operators with the means to ensure that very challenging new performance targets can be met. Furthermore the potential breakthroughs will make the industry more efficient and hence more profitable. They will also give UK companies a competitive advantage in the increasingly global construction market.