Smart Infrastructure: Wireless sensor network system for condition assessment and monitoring of infrastructure

21世纪土木工程师面临的最大挑战之一是管理老化的基础设施。这一点在世界各地主要城市的地下和上方的隧道、管道和桥梁网络中表现得最为明显。这些基础设施大多是半个多世纪前建造的，有广泛的证据表明，它们的状况正在恶化。隧道，特别是旧隧道，很容易受到邻近施工活动的影响，例如打桩、深挖和其他隧道施工。过度泄漏和管道爆裂是经常发生的，而且通常是意料之外的。重要的是，当地下结构被火车使用时，或由于其他物理限制，它们往往无法被检查。在拥挤的城市环境中，旧基础设施的脆弱性也给新建设带来了挑战。人们对这些基础设施的长期性能知之甚少。这些不确定性以及安全对用户和消费者的重要性促使最近的研究项目开始调查损伤检测和决策的前景，以及使用新材料来减轻损伤。光纤传感器和微机电传感器（MEMS）等创新传感器的发展提供了有趣的可能性，可以从根本上改变现有状态评估和监测方法的范式。未来的监控系统无疑将包括无线传感器网络（WSN），并将围绕自主节点的能力进行设计。网络中的每个节点都将集成特定的传感能力，包括通信、数据处理和电源。因此，本提案的目标是展示如何将大量传感器集成到大型工程系统中，以提高性能并延长基础设施的使用寿命，同时持续评估和管理不确定性和风险。该提案是剑桥大学和伦敦帝国理工学院之间的一个联合项目，包括一个综合研究计划，以评估和开发原型WSN系统。该提案的主要目标是将大型工程基础设施建模的进步与无线传感器网络的进步相结合，并开发一种低成本的智能传感环境，用于监测老化的公共基础设施。将详细研究三个应用领域：(i)监测供水和下水道系统；（ii）监测隧道；（iii）监测桥梁。监控系统的复杂性需要在以下研究领域进行探索：传感器系统、无线通信、自治系统、信息管理、编程和设计工具、信任安全和隐私、系统理论、人为因素和社会问题。现场试验将与伦敦地铁有限公司、泰晤士水务公司、公路局和亨伯大桥一起进行。英特尔公司将为试验提供硬件支持。

One of the greatest challenges facing civil engineers in the 21st century is the stewardship of ageing infrastructure. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the networks of tunnels, pipelines and bridges that lie beneath and above the major cities around the world. Much of this infrastructure was constructed more than half a century ago and there is widespread evidence of its deterioration. Tunnels, particularly old ones, are prone to being influenced by activities such as adjacent construction, for instance piling, deep excavations and other tunnel construction. Excessive leakage and pipe bursts are frequent and usually unanticipated. Importantly, underground structures often cannot be inspected when they are being used by trains or due to other physical constraints. The fragility of old infrastructure also presents a challenge for new construction in congested urban environments. Little is known of the long-term performance of such infrastructure. These uncertainties and the importance of safety to users and consumers prompted the initiation of recent research projects investigating the prospect of damage detection and decision making and the use of novel materials to mitigate damage. Advances in the development of innovative sensors such as fibre optic sensors and micro electrical mechanical sensors (MEMS) offer intriguing possibilities that can radically alter the paradigms underlying existing methods of condition assessment and monitoring. Future monitoring systems will undoubtedly comprise Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) and will be designed around the capabilities of autonomous nodes. Each node in the network will integrate specific sensing capabilities with communication, data processing and power supply. It is therefore the objective of this proposal to demonstrate how large numbers of sensors can be integrated into large-scale engineering systems to improve performance and extend the lifetime of infrastructure, while continuously evaluating and managing uncertainties and risks. This proposal is a joint project between the University of Cambridge and Imperial College London and comprises an integrated research program to evaluate and develop prototype WSN systems. The main objectives of this proposal are to bridge advances in modelling large-scale engineering infrastructure with advances in wireless sensor networks and to develop a low-cost smart sensing environment for monitoring ageing public infrastructure. Three application domains will be studied in detail: (i) monitoring water supply and sewer systems and (ii) monitoring tunnels and (iii) monitoring bridges. The complexity of the monitoring system requires the following research areas to be explored : sensor systems, wireless communications, autonomous systems, information management, programming and design tools, trust security and privacy, systems theory, human factors and social issues. Field trials will be carried out with London Underground Ltd., Thames Water, Highways Agency and Humber Bridge. Intel Corporation will support the project with hardware for the trials.