Skip to main content

SENSKIN project develops first prototype of infrastructure monitoring sensor

SENSKIN, a 42-month European Horizon 2020 project to develop a sensor for monitoring-based maintenance of the transport infrastructure implemented by 13 partners from seven countries has reported on its first 18 months of work. During this time, the partners derived user requirements and, based on these, designed the prototype of the skin-like sensors and the data acquisition unit. They also provided proof of concept of the communication system and are finishing the prototypes of the communication, structur
February 3, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
SENSKIN, a 42-month European Horizon 2020 project to develop a sensor for monitoring-based maintenance of the transport infrastructure implemented by 13 partners from seven countries has reported on its first 18 months of work. During this time, the partners derived user requirements and, based on these, designed the prototype of the skin-like sensors and the data acquisition unit. They also provided proof of concept of the communication system and are finishing the prototypes of the communication, structural and rehabilitation modules.

A main objective of the project is the development of a skin-like sensor that offers spatial sensing and can monitor large strains. Emerging delay tolerant network technology is applied, so that the measurements of the sensors can be transmitted to the control centre even under difficult conditions, such as an earthquake, where some communication networks are inoperable.

The sensors show a linear output in a range of strains between zero to 20 per cent, while they can monitor both strains and crack openings, replacing both strain gauges and crack metres.  In addition, the sensor requires little power to operate, is capable of being installed on an irregular surface, is less expensive than existing sensors and allows simple signal processing - including the ability to self-monitor and self-report.

Structural assessment is based on detailed finite element analyses of the monitored bridge that have been developed, while the selection of rehabilitation methods takes into account economic and environmental considerations.

The system will be field evaluated on the Bosporus 1 bridge in Istanbul with an average daily traffic of 200,000 vehicles and a bridge on the Greek Egnatia motorway that connects Europe to Asia.

Related Content

  • IP revolution for CCTV systems yet to happen
    February 3, 2012
    The IP Revolution for CCTV systems which has been predicted for some years now has failed to happen, says Craig Howie, commercial director of Visimetrics Ltd. Given the many aspects of different technologies and standards involved in moving high-value, observation-critical applications into a pure digital age, this is perhaps unsurprising, he feels.
  • Improving the positional accuracy of GNSS road user charging
    July 23, 2012
    The European GINA project is intended to address and overcome many of the institutional, technical and public acceptance hurdles currently faced by satellite-based road user charging schemes. Dave Tindall and Denis Naberezhnykh, TRL, and Laure Dezes, ERF, write. Pay-as-you-drive Road User Charging (RUC), whereby demand (or congestion) is managed by applying appropriate tariffs in order to encourage drivers to make their journeys at less busy times, on less congested routes or even on different modes, could
  • Tolling is still stuck on the sidelines says ASECAP speaker
    August 19, 2015
    Geoff Hadwick attended ASECAP’s 2015 Study Days meeting in Lisbon and found a frustrated European tolling sector undertaking some soul searching. The international road tolling industry its failing to make it case and the sector is losing out to a range of other socio-political lobby groups according to International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA) chief executive Pat Jones. Speaking at the recent 2015 ASECAP Study Days conference in Lisbon, Jones issued a stark warning: “Tolling is still o
  • Fast moving walkways could move 7,000 people per hour
    November 28, 2016
    Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) researchers have been studying futuristic transport solutions for car-free urban centres and have come up with an optimal design for a network of accelerating moving walkways. This is not a new concept – the first moving walkways were seen in Chicago in 1893 and seven years later they were used at the world’s fair in Paris. They are also regularly used the world over in airports and transport terminals. As part of the PostCarW