Smartphone Sensors Keep an Eye on Crumbling Bridges
New technology that uses smartphone-based sensors to monitor crumbing roads and aging bridges could potentially save millions of lives, researchers say.
A recent report by the American Society of Civil Engineers gave infrastructure systems in the United States a D+ rating nationwide on an A to F scale.
Based on estimations, researchers say the failure of civil infrastructure systems could cause a 1 percent reduction in the US GDP. In 2017, that number was $200 billion.
Scientists say they can use various sensors on smartphones such as a gyroscope, an accelerometer to measure speed, and camera, or tiny external sensors such as an infrared sensor, to determine the specific makeup and deterioration of a road’s surface in real-time.
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