Deteriorating Bridges May Soon be Monitored with Electronic Sensors and Drones
Engineers at Tufts University in Boston, MA are using wireless sensors and flying robots that could eventually be utilized by authorities to monitor the condition of bridges in real time. That’s according to Jean-Pierre Joosting’s article in Electronics-eetimes.com. He says that with rising maintenance and inspection costs, automated preventative technology will help save resources. A $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation is funding the Tufts’ research. “It would develop a wireless system that would use autonomous flying robots (quad-copters) to hover near the sensors and collect data while taking visual images of bridge conditions,” writes Joosting. The drone-like robots would transmit data to a central collection point for analysis.
