A new start-up of the University of Trento developed a system to automatically transmit information on their structural conditions.
We will know in real time the severity of damages in buildings, after an earthquake and suggest the best route for emergency vehicles, considering the conditions of roads and bridges.
It will be possible thanks to NetKubed, an initiative developed at DICAM - Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanic engineering - in the research sector devoted to innovation of infrastructures.
The project will develop new sensors and monitoring systems for buildings - houses, bridges, historical palaces, and industrial plants - for the management of infrastructures.
The most complete version of the software combines in a single solution sensors, monitoring systems and algorithms to support the management of economic resources.
After the preliminary phase, the company, named I-Kubed, was created upon the initiative of an academic start-up, thanks to Emiliano Debiasi, Davide Trapani, Oreste Salvatore Bursi and Daniele Zonta of DICAM.
“The construction sector - according to the sponsors - there is a growing interest towards the structural monitoring, in particular towards the designing and implementation of smart structures, that is of buildings with sensors capable to automatically transmit information on their structural reliability, in real time. They promptly signal damages or dangers. The monitoring system identifies damage before it is seeable, thus making repairs more prompt and economic, and above all increasing the safety of people inside".
One of the most innovative features of the new system is the capacity to manage structures belonging to different owners, integrating data coming from different monitoring systems, in a single database. Emiliano Debiasi highlighted that “Up to now the toughest obstacle against the spreading of these new technologies was their high costs. Thanks to the information acquired through different systems, NetKubed will cut the costs of structural monitoring, thus making it accessible for everyone”. Further, thanks to the automatized management of monitoring and the use of augmented reality, we will view in an intuitive manner all information regarding the monitored structure: “For example I will direct my smart phone towards a building, or more easily watch it using smart glasses and I will immediately see the damaged elements, highlighted in different colours according to the severity of damage”.
The final users of I-Kubed are both the owners of structures and the people in charge of large or numerous buildings and infrastructures. Construction companies will simplify their quality control procedures during the construction works and during the entire life cycle of the building itself. Insurance companies will optimize their fees and simplify their reimbursement procedures.
Over the next few months NetKubed will be installed on some public structures, thanks to the support of private companies and external consultants. “The system we developed aims at impacting significantly on the community. It can be used for the management of earthquake-related emergencies, both in single buildings and over a wider area”, added Emiliano Debiasi. “It enables us to be more updated on the conditions of infrastructure and minimize risks, reduce the need for inspections and offer objective and complete data on the quality of buildings. In this way public and private resources will be used in an optimal manner: we will intervene only when it is really necessary, saving money when possible”.