19/10/2023
UBIPOS UK LTD's Co-Founder and Managing Director George Ye was invited by CGTN UK to give a summary of the current state of UK-China collaborations in the hi-tech sector at the 9th China-UK Technology Summit.
The interview video are as of below:
UBIPOS UK LTD's Co-Founder and Managing Director George Ye was invited by CGTN UK to give a summary of the current state of UK-China collaborations in the hi-tech sector at the 9th China-UK Technology Summit.
The interview video are as of below:
18/10/2023
Calls for British government to support non-UK residents with start-up businesses:
https://newseu.cgtn.com/news/2023-10-18/Calls-for-British-government-to-support-non-UK-resident-start-ups-1o0qJ7zUIUM/index.html
24/01/2020
UBIPOS UK LTD is very please to have been one of five high potential UK SMEs that participated in the Connected Places Mission to China in 2019 supported by Connected Places Catapult and the British Embassy in Beijing's Science and Innovation Network. Apart from visiting three cities in China (Chongqing, Chengdu and Shanghai) with a combined urban and suburban population of nearly 100 million people over the course of 5 days, George Ye also spoke at the UK Pavilion of the 2nd Chongqing International Intelligent Expo as a keynote industry speaker.
Below is an summary video of the mission:
02/01/2020
UbiPOS UK LTD was highly praised by UK Space Agency (UKSA) as its first tweet in 2020. We are very honoured to be recognised for our hard work and achievements in the GeoSHM FS and Demo Projects Awarded by The European Space Agency (ESA) and winning The Engineer Collaborate to Innovate (C2I) 2019 Award (Information, Data & Connectivity) with The University of Nottingham, Leica Geosystems, China Rail BRDI, GVL and Transport Scotland.
07/11/2019
UbiPOS UK LTD has won The Engineer Collaborate to Innovate (C2I) 2019 Award (Information, Data & Connectivity) with The University of Nottingham, Leica Geosystems, China Rail BRDI, GVL and Transport Scotland. This is a very prestigious UK and International Award for engineering excellence and is a deserved endorsement and accreditation of the global excellence that GeoSHM has created in solving the challenge of ensuring that large infrastructure are fully monitored in real time.
UbiPOS UK LTD has won The Engineer Collaborate to Innovate (C2I) 2019 Award (Information, Data & Connectivity) with The University of Nottingham, Leica Geosystems, China Rail BRDI, GVL and Transport Scotland. This is a very prestigious UK and International Award for engineering excellence and is a deserved endorsement and accreditation of the global excellence that GeoSHM has created in solving the challenge of ensuring that large infrastructure are fully monitored in real time.
08/11/2018
UBIPOS UK LTD is one of 12 organisations representing the united kingdom at the 6th China Jiangsu conference for international technology transfer and commercialisation (CITTC)
25/10/2018
UBIPOS UK LTD and The university of nottingham successful completed CCAV CAV 2 Project RECAPD (2017-2018)
28/03/2018
UBIPOS UK LTD SUCCESSFUL CO-LED THE SECOND SINO-UK INTELLIGENT MOBILITY FORUM (Chongqing china)
06/11/2017
UbIPOS UK LTD Successful Initiated and co-led the First Sino-uk intelligent mobility forum (beijing China)
24/09/2017
UbiPOS UK LTD invited as a keynote company project to the ESA SpaceMove! Event (Berlin 18-29th September 2017)
UbiPOS UK LTD was honoured to have been invited by ESA as a keynote showcase company project for the recent ESA SpaceMove! Event in Berlin. This two day event brought together leading companies in the UK and the EU that are working closely with ESA on geospatial science and space related products and services so as to enable Europe and ESA to continue to be a leading player in global developments.
We were also very grateful that ESA has selected us as one of only five companies to have CAV showcase introduction and also a keynote speech on GeoSHM Demo project both days. This is great confirmation of the value of our projects and their fully commercialised value.
Further information about the event on the link below:
https://business.esa.int/news/space-moves
UbiPOS UK LTD invited as a keynote company project to the ESA SpaceMove! Event (Berlin 18-29th September 2017)
UbiPOS UK LTD was honoured to have been invited by ESA as a keynote showcase company project for the recent ESA SpaceMove! Event in Berlin. This two day event brought together leading companies in the UK and the EU that are working closely with ESA on geospatial science and space related products and services so as to enable Europe and ESA to continue to be a leading player in global developments.
We were also very grateful that ESA has selected us as one of only five companies to have CAV showcase introduction and also a keynote speech on GeoSHM Demo project both days. This is great confirmation of the value of our projects and their fully commercialised value.
Further information about the event on the link below:
https://business.esa.int/news/space-moves
06/09/2017
Chinese Ambassador Liu Xiaoming impressed by GeoSHM Demo Project
Dr Xiaoming Liu, Chinese Ambassador to the United Kingdom of the Great Britain and Northern Ireland, visited the University of Nottingham on 6th September 2017 to be awarded with a Degree of Doctor of Laws Honoris Causa.
He continued his visit to the Jubilee Campus where the Sino-UK Geospatial Engineering Centre is based. In the Ingenuity Centre Dr Xiaolin Meng gave an informed demonstration of the GeoSHM Demo Project which is sponsored by the European Space Agency, a flagship project which was twice awarded as an ESA showcase project. Ambassador Liu enquired whether the project would be able to employ the BeiDou GNSS System in its application, to which Dr Meng explained that the primary GNSS system employed in the GeoSHM project is GPS, but the BeiDou system is perfectly operational and capable to conduct structural health monitoring of bridges in China. In the future once BeiDou is fully operational GeoSHM will gradually include it into the final GeoSHM system.
During Ambassador Liu’s visit, Dr Meng continued to explain that the GeoSHM project is a world leading structural health monitoring (SHM) system for long-span bridges and his consortium and internal team consists of leading experts and researchers in civil engineering, geospatial engineering, sensor system, earth observation, data sciences, communication, etc., backed by niche OEM manufacturers and most active SMEs such the GeoSHM Demo Prime contractor – UbiPOS UK Ltd. Ambassador Liu stated that projects such as GeoSHM are vital for the development of high-level scientific dialogue between China and the UK, especially under the current golden era of China-UK people to people collaborations. He also stated that he would help to promote the GeoSHM project in China to help build further cooperation. This encouraging news will motivate the GeoSHM consortium to strive for further success in future in its project and business domains.
We thank Ambassador Liu for his valued support for the project, and look forward to the opportunity to meeting with him in the future.
16/05/2017
Successful hosting of the Critical Design Review on the GeoSHM Project and the Sino-UK Forum on Large Infrastructure Monitoring (May 15-16th Wuhan, China)
UbiPOS UK LTD in conjunction with The University of Nottingham's Sino-UK Geospatial Engineering Centre and China Railway Major Bridge Reconnaissance and Design Institute (BRDI), Asia’s largest construction company has successfully passed the Critical Design Review by the European Space Agency and organised a dedicated workshop on large infrastructure monitoring with more than 50 of China's key infrastructure and bridge owners as attendees.
We are very pleased with the results and critical exchange of expert opinions. The forum achieved its goals of timely engagement of leading UK and Chinese sectoral experts and updated both sides with their latest corporate/research and commercial product/services developments and market opportunities.
Overall, nearly 60 UK and Chinese experts, business leaders and senior officials attended this forum and key stakeholders from the major cities across the Yangtze River. These include Shanghai and Wuhan which has 13 large bridges, Chongqing which owns half of the bridges along the Yangtze River, and Yichang, where the famous Three Gorges Dam sits.
In addition to the GeoSHM Project, the seminar covered a range of topics including:
- BRDI’s work on bridge health monitoring;
- Using a novel Earth Observation technique to monitor subsidence along a river corridor;
- An introduction to bridge monitoring standardisation in China;
- Monitoring makes city safer in Shanghai;
- Construction and Application of Big Data Platform for Chongqing Urban Infrastructure Safety Monitoring;
- Vehicle Mobile Data Acquisition System and Application;
- Tunnel Inspection via 3D Laser Scanning.
- The Forum was further reported as of below:
https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/news/pressreleases/2017/may/sino-uk-engineering-seminar-to-explore-structural-health-monitoring.aspx
https://artes-apps.esa.int/projects/showcases/structural-health-monitor-vast-markets
Successful hosting of the Critical Design Review on the GeoSHM Project and the Sino-UK Forum on Large Infrastructure Monitoring (May 15-16th Wuhan, China)
UbiPOS UK LTD in conjunction with The University of Nottingham's Sino-UK Geospatial Engineering Centre and China Railway Major Bridge Reconnaissance and Design Institute (BRDI), Asia’s largest construction company has successfully passed the Critical Design Review by the European Space Agency and organised a dedicated workshop on large infrastructure monitoring with more than 50 of China's key infrastructure and bridge owners as attendees.
We are very pleased with the results and critical exchange of expert opinions. The forum achieved its goals of timely engagement of leading UK and Chinese sectoral experts and updated both sides with their latest corporate/research and commercial product/services developments and market opportunities.
Overall, nearly 60 UK and Chinese experts, business leaders and senior officials attended this forum and key stakeholders from the major cities across the Yangtze River. These include Shanghai and Wuhan which has 13 large bridges, Chongqing which owns half of the bridges along the Yangtze River, and Yichang, where the famous Three Gorges Dam sits.
In addition to the GeoSHM Project, the seminar covered a range of topics including:
- BRDI’s work on bridge health monitoring;
- Using a novel Earth Observation technique to monitor subsidence along a river corridor;
- An introduction to bridge monitoring standardisation in China;
- Monitoring makes city safer in Shanghai;
- Construction and Application of Big Data Platform for Chongqing Urban Infrastructure Safety Monitoring;
- Vehicle Mobile Data Acquisition System and Application;
- Tunnel Inspection via 3D Laser Scanning.
- The Forum was further reported as of below:
https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/news/pressreleases/2017/may/sino-uk-engineering-seminar-to-explore-structural-health-monitoring.aspx
https://artes-apps.esa.int/projects/showcases/structural-health-monitor-vast-markets
11/11/2016
Monitoring Bridges Opens Vast Markets
We're delighted that the European Space Agency (ESA) has officially announced our GeoSHM Demo Project as a showcase project in November 2016. For further information please see the link below.
https://artes-apps.esa.int/projects/showcases/structural-health-monitor-vast-markets
Monitoring Bridges Opens Vast Markets
We're delighted that the European Space Agency (ESA) has officially announced our GeoSHM Demo Project as a showcase project in November 2016. For further information please see the link below.
https://artes-apps.esa.int/projects/showcases/structural-health-monitor-vast-markets
18/10/2016
GEOSHM DEMO PROJECT - GNSS AND EO FOR STRUCTURAL HEALTH MONITORING OF BRIDGES – DEMONSTRATION
The European Space Agency (ESA) has officially set up a website dedicated on the developments of the GeoSHM Demo Project. For the link to the website please see below:
https://artes-apps.esa.int/projects/geoshm-demo-project
GEOSHM DEMO PROJECT - GNSS AND EO FOR STRUCTURAL HEALTH MONITORING OF BRIDGES – DEMONSTRATION
The European Space Agency (ESA) has officially set up a website dedicated on the developments of the GeoSHM Demo Project. For the link to the website please see below:
https://artes-apps.esa.int/projects/geoshm-demo-project
01/10/2016
HxGN LOCAL UK 2016 Conference
GeoSHM consortium was invited to give a keynote speech at the HxGN LOCAL UK 2016 Conference.
Please see below for the conference agenda.
hexagon_conference_2016_agenda.pdf | |
File Size: | 271 kb |
File Type: |
24/09/2016
Innovation is Great Britain: 2016 Pujiang Innovation Forum
Dr Xiaolin Meng of the Sino-UK Geospatial Engineering Centre gave a presentation at the Pujiang Innovation Forum on 23rd September 2016 as a keynote speaker on behalf of the GeoSHM consortium.
Dr Meng was invited to the forum to support the UK government and presented the joint projects such as GeoSHM Demo, i-MOTORS etc. with China partners at the opening ceremony.
https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/sugec/english/news/sino-uk-centre-director-attends-pujiang-forum.aspx
20/07/2016
GeoSHM Demo Project Passes 1st Assessment
The GeoSHM Demo Project held the Baseline Design Review (BDR) at the University of Nottingham on July 15th 2016. Consortium prime contractor UbiPOS, Sub-contractors from the University of Nottingham, Leica and GVL, and GeoSHM end user Amey gathered at the University with the European Space Agency’s project officer for the project.
The consortium members presented their individual work to date for the project, with Amey demonstrating how the GeoSHM Demo Project can benefit them as one of two key end-users.
The meeting covered in detail the variety of operations taking place within the project and set goals for the 2nd stage, of which the review meeting is entitled ‘Critical Design Review’ (CDR) and will take place in March 2017.
ESA were very pleased with the development of the project and confirmed that the goals for the 1st stage has been successfully achieved.
GeoSHM Demo Project Passes 1st Assessment
The GeoSHM Demo Project held the Baseline Design Review (BDR) at the University of Nottingham on July 15th 2016. Consortium prime contractor UbiPOS, Sub-contractors from the University of Nottingham, Leica and GVL, and GeoSHM end user Amey gathered at the University with the European Space Agency’s project officer for the project.
The consortium members presented their individual work to date for the project, with Amey demonstrating how the GeoSHM Demo Project can benefit them as one of two key end-users.
The meeting covered in detail the variety of operations taking place within the project and set goals for the 2nd stage, of which the review meeting is entitled ‘Critical Design Review’ (CDR) and will take place in March 2017.
ESA were very pleased with the development of the project and confirmed that the goals for the 1st stage has been successfully achieved.
01/07/2016
ESA GeoSHM Demonstration Project Kick-off Meeting in Wuhan, China
UbiPOS, as Contractor of ESA, recently convened the GeoSHM demonstration project KO meeting at the HQs of the China Railway Major Bridge Reconnaissance and Design Institute (BRDI) in the City of Wuhan, China.
Report below courtesy of Mr Huanbin Zheng, Journalist of the China Daily of Science and Technology in London
First Time UK Extra-Large Bridge Monitoring System Will Be Applied in China
China Daily of Science and Technology 31st May. Press (by Journalist Mr Huanbin Zheng in London):
The innovative monitoring system developed by the University of Nottingham will be applied on two of the world’s most impressive extra-large bridges located on the Yangtze River in China. This system, called GeoSHM, integrates GNSS and EO technology and can be used to monitor the structural health condition of large bridges in real-time. It has already been applied on the Forth Road Bridge in Scotland, one of the longest bridges in Europe, to monitor the dynamic deformation of bridge.
Suspension bridges are designed to be flexible in order to respond to the change of wind, temperature and traffic loading. However, engineers still struggle to clearly identify how far the bridge moves during a specific period of time and the reasons which cause abnormal deformations. The group led by Dr Xiaolin Meng, the director of Sino-UK Geospatial Engineering Center of the University of Nottingham, has a long-history of applying integrated GNSS and EO technology for the comprehensive assessment of the operation condition of bridges. The real-time monitoring system GeoSHM developed by this group was applied on the Forth Road Bridge in Scotland in September 2014.
During December 2015, the truss end link of northeast tower of the Forth Road Bridge was fractured. The University of Nottingham cooperated with Amey, the company which accounts for the operation maintenance of the Forth Road Bridge, and used GNSS receivers, meteorological sensors and other structural health monitoring sensors to assess the deformation in real-time under various loading tests and extreme winds. After the fractured steelwork had been found, Dr Xiaolin Meng's group provided the corresponding solutions for the bridge in the case of extreme wind based on observation data.
Currently Dr Xiaolin Meng's group has carried out a series of project feasibility research and will install their system on two of the extra-long bridges on the Yangtze River in China during the GeoSHM demo project. Both the GeoSHM feasibility project and demo project are funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES) program, and the second stage of GeoSHM has been granted the funding from ESA and other institutes with a total of 2.3 million Euros. In the second half of 2015, the China Railway Major Bridge Reconnaissance & Design Institute Co., Ltd (BRDI) made a decision to supplement 600,000 Euros to the ESA fund for the implementation of GeoSHM Demo on the two bridges in China.
Discussing the GeoSHM technology during the official project launch ceremony on 31 May 2016 in Wuhan, Dr Xiaolin Meng expressed that GeoSHM can timely and comprehensively understand the structural health condition and operational condition of bridges based on real-time monitoring and smart data strategy, and can especially provide safe and highly-efficient maintenance.
From Left to Right: Left 2: CEO of UbiPOS UK LTD Mrs Jun Ye. Left 4: Director of the Sino-UK Geospatial Engineering Centre Dr Xiaolin Meng. Left 5: Prof Tian Daoming, President of BRDI. Right 5: Vice President and Preservation Practice Leader for Complex Bridges (AECOM North America) Mr Barry Colford. Right 3: Prof Huang Yanqing, Vice President of BRDI.
06/04/2016
ESA GeoSHM 2nd Phase Project (2016-2018)
We're very pleased to announce that UbiPOS UK Ltd has won a two-year contract from the European Space Agency (ESA) as Prime Contractor for long bridge deformation monitoring using integrated GNSS, Earth observation technologies and other terrestrial sensory systems. This is a continuing project of ESA sponsored GeoSHM Feasibility Study Project, focusing on addressing the issues identified in the previous project and further developing it as an operational product. In the demonstration project which started in March 2016 the GeoSHM consortium will install GeoSHM to three large bridges in the UK and China. The sub-contractors of GeoSHM Demo Project include the University of Nottingham, Leica Geosystems Ltd., and Geomatic Ventures Ltd. The GeoSHM Demo users are Amey (operator of the Forth Road Bridge) and China Railway through its China Railway Major Bridge Reconnaissance and Design Institute Co., Ltd.. The total project cost is 2.3 million Euros.
ESA GeoSHM 2nd Phase Project (2016-2018)
We're very pleased to announce that UbiPOS UK Ltd has won a two-year contract from the European Space Agency (ESA) as Prime Contractor for long bridge deformation monitoring using integrated GNSS, Earth observation technologies and other terrestrial sensory systems. This is a continuing project of ESA sponsored GeoSHM Feasibility Study Project, focusing on addressing the issues identified in the previous project and further developing it as an operational product. In the demonstration project which started in March 2016 the GeoSHM consortium will install GeoSHM to three large bridges in the UK and China. The sub-contractors of GeoSHM Demo Project include the University of Nottingham, Leica Geosystems Ltd., and Geomatic Ventures Ltd. The GeoSHM Demo users are Amey (operator of the Forth Road Bridge) and China Railway through its China Railway Major Bridge Reconnaissance and Design Institute Co., Ltd.. The total project cost is 2.3 million Euros.
15/02/2016
Continuing Joint Efforts on The Structure Health Monitoring of Large Bridges
News Release Courtesy of the University of Nottingham (11/11/2015)
The University of Nottingham’s Sino-UK Geospatial Engineering Centre is collaborating with a subsidiary of China Railway Group, the biggest construction company in Asia, on a joint project funded by the European Space Agency (ESA).
The project, known as GNSS and Earth Observation for Structural Health of Monitoring of Bridges (GeoSHM), uses advanced satellite navigation and positioning technology to generate real-time measurements of bridge movement and to understand how different environmental and industrial factors can affect bridge stability over time.
The subsidiary, China Railway Major Bridge Reconnaissance and Design Institute (BRDI) will assist in promoting GeoSHM services in China, the world’s biggest market for the technology.
Long-term partnership
The University’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir David Greenaway, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with BRDI ‘s General Manager Mr Zhang Min. The MoU aims to establish a long-term partnership between the two organisation and widen the links with The University of Nottingham in both Ningbo and in the UK.
As a result of the agreement, a series of investments will pave the way for further commercialisation of GeoSHM technology, in order to explore the £10 billion global market of satellite-based monitoring of large infrastructure.
For solving the pressing issues that face China’s large bridges, the MoU will see a direct investment of €600,000 from BRDI to support the second phase of the €2.3m European Space Agency-sponsored project. Initial work with BRDI and other UK-China companies is expected to lead to the establishment of a high-tech company with Nottingham.
Bridge building
Mr Tian Daoming, President of BRDI, is excited at the prospect of further collaboration with the University: "China has a long history of bridge construction which dates back thousands of years and we have built a great number of novel, large and complex structured bridges in the past few decades. Collaborating with the University of Nottingham using geospatial technology will help with the great rejuvenation of the Chinese Bridge construction."
Dr. Xiaolin Meng, Director of the Sino-UK Geospatial Engineering Centre, welcomes the further investment from BRDI, he said: "I am really looking forward to working with BRDI on this project. By collaborating with them and providing our expertise in earth observation and monitoring technologies, we can help to improve the way that bridges are constructed, in future.
"The wide-reaching range of geospatial data that we are able to provide through our research work also has massive potential in helping to develop smart transport management solutions within the big cities in the UK and China.”
13/01/2016
UbiPOS on behalf of The University of Nottingham and The Sino-UK Geospatial Engineering Centre was invited as a strategic partner for the delivery of the "UK-China Space Science Education Dialogue Workshops" in January 2016 and is delighted to continue supporting partners such as the National Space Academy (UK), British Embassy China, British School Beijing/Shanghai and the British Council in the future implementation of strategic educational dialogue at all levels between the UK and China on Space Science and Deep Space Explorations.
http://www.bupt.edu.cn/content/content.php?p=81_15_3246 (Link in Chinese).
14/12/2015
UbiPOS was invited as the sole UK-China Strategic Agri-Tech member of Agri-Tech East to support its co-facilitation with the University of East Anglia of a senior Chinese government/technical delegation. This delegation's main aim was to exchange best practices on wheat breeding and pest control within a two week training course. UbiPOS is pleased to have been involved as a SME stakeholder for this networking event with our Chinese colleagues and wish them success with future applications of the technologies learnt from this training course.
12/12/2015
UbiPOS was delighted to have participated as a VIP industry partner of the China-UK HiTECH Innovation Forum's 2015 Summary Event at Imperial College EEE School.
UbiPOS was delighted to have participated as a VIP industry partner of the China-UK HiTECH Innovation Forum's 2015 Summary Event at Imperial College EEE School.
20/07/2015
We are pleased to have been invited by the British Embassy Beijing to attend the UK China Agri-Tech Workshop on Precision Agriculture and Soil Management Forum in Beijing between July 8th and 9th 2015. George Ye, who was representing the Sino-UK Geospatial Engineering Centre of the University of Nottingham, presented in the forum and joined the field visits.
This workshop is jointly organised by the Science and Innovation Section of British Embassy Beijing and China International Technology Transfer Centre (CITTC). It is aimed to promote and facilitate research and business collaborations in the area of precision agriculture and soil management. It is part of the UK’s Milan Expo programme activities which will run from May to October this year.
The UK is home to world-class agricultural research in areas such as plant and animal breeding, remote sensing, meteorological prediction and data exploitation. From genetics to grazing, the UK has pioneered developments in the livestock sector for centuries. The challenge is to continue to provide safe, nutritious food that is affordable and accessible to all. The UK’s Agri-Tech strengths are about ensuring better crop productivity and yields, with reduced input and environmental impact. The UK’s world-leading Agri-Tech research institutions and innovative farmers and food manufacturers are going to Milan to attend the GREAT Week Agri-Tech, helping to demonstrate how the UK is to address the global challenge of feeding the planet.
We are pleased to have been invited by the British Embassy Beijing to attend the UK China Agri-Tech Workshop on Precision Agriculture and Soil Management Forum in Beijing between July 8th and 9th 2015. George Ye, who was representing the Sino-UK Geospatial Engineering Centre of the University of Nottingham, presented in the forum and joined the field visits.
This workshop is jointly organised by the Science and Innovation Section of British Embassy Beijing and China International Technology Transfer Centre (CITTC). It is aimed to promote and facilitate research and business collaborations in the area of precision agriculture and soil management. It is part of the UK’s Milan Expo programme activities which will run from May to October this year.
The UK is home to world-class agricultural research in areas such as plant and animal breeding, remote sensing, meteorological prediction and data exploitation. From genetics to grazing, the UK has pioneered developments in the livestock sector for centuries. The challenge is to continue to provide safe, nutritious food that is affordable and accessible to all. The UK’s Agri-Tech strengths are about ensuring better crop productivity and yields, with reduced input and environmental impact. The UK’s world-leading Agri-Tech research institutions and innovative farmers and food manufacturers are going to Milan to attend the GREAT Week Agri-Tech, helping to demonstrate how the UK is to address the global challenge of feeding the planet.
15/06/2015
UbiPOS is now an official member of Agri-Tech East. We're very excited and pleased to be in this unique group and look forward to future collaborations with old and new partners.
New Release see below link:
http://www.agritech-east.co.uk/ubipos/
25/03/2015
Copyright: ESA - https://artes-apps.esa.int/projects/showcases/monitoring-bridges-space
MONITORING BRIDGES FROM SPACE
Bridges are part of the fabric of everyday life. They serve as important transport nodes and play a vital role in the socio-economic development of modern societies. Many have even become iconic structures in the regions that they serve.
In the course of normal use, a modern bridge is subject to a variety of stresses. Bridges are also susceptible to changes in the environment, such as land subsidence due to landslip, engineering works, mining or other industrial activities. While uncommon, structural failures due to aging do occur, and the consequences of such failures are usually catastrophic. As such, a bridge operator must closely monitor a bridge’s structural health as well as its state at any given moment. When weather conditions call for it, traffic must be restricted, either partly or entirely.
Monitoring a bridge’s health is customarily performed by the bridgemaster, who is responsible for routine maintenance as well as issuing safety warnings. To help bridgemasters get a clearer picture of these environmental impacts, a consortium led by the University of Nottingham joined forces with the operator of the famous Forth Road Bridge in Scotland to develop a system, called GNSS and Earth Observation for Structural Health Monitoring (GeoSHM), which uses space assets for monitoring purposes. The activity was supported by ESA under the ARTES Programme.
MEASURING STRESS
The Forth Road suspension bridge was opened in 1964. Over the past fifty years, traffic has increased from the originally planned 30,000 vehicles per day to a daily average of 40,000 vehicles, with 60,000 vehicles crossing the bridge on peak weekdays.
As a result of this increased load, the bridge is experiencing stressed structural members and unexpected deformations. Also, extreme weather conditions, such as high winds, cause frequent bridge closures, and having only one lane open in each direction results in upwards of £650,000 in lost revenues per day.
The GeoSHM consortium set out to determine whether it was technical feasible and economically viable to deploy GNSS and Earth Observation technologies to monitor more precisely the Forth Road Bridge. Specifically, they wanted to provide the Bridgemaster with real-time indicators of bridge movement by means of highly sensitive sensors at key locations, as well as map potential long-term subsidence of the supporting structures.
The sensor system consists of one reference GNSS receiver set on the top of the Bridgemaster’s office, two GNSS receivers on each side of the middle span and one set on south tower. And also two high quality ultrasonic anemometers (wind meters) are installed on the bridge.
Bridges are part of the fabric of everyday life. They serve as important transport nodes and play a vital role in the socio-economic development of modern societies. Many have even become iconic structures in the regions that they serve.
In the course of normal use, a modern bridge is subject to a variety of stresses. Bridges are also susceptible to changes in the environment, such as land subsidence due to landslip, engineering works, mining or other industrial activities. While uncommon, structural failures due to aging do occur, and the consequences of such failures are usually catastrophic. As such, a bridge operator must closely monitor a bridge’s structural health as well as its state at any given moment. When weather conditions call for it, traffic must be restricted, either partly or entirely.
Monitoring a bridge’s health is customarily performed by the bridgemaster, who is responsible for routine maintenance as well as issuing safety warnings. To help bridgemasters get a clearer picture of these environmental impacts, a consortium led by the University of Nottingham joined forces with the operator of the famous Forth Road Bridge in Scotland to develop a system, called GNSS and Earth Observation for Structural Health Monitoring (GeoSHM), which uses space assets for monitoring purposes. The activity was supported by ESA under the ARTES Programme.
MEASURING STRESS
The Forth Road suspension bridge was opened in 1964. Over the past fifty years, traffic has increased from the originally planned 30,000 vehicles per day to a daily average of 40,000 vehicles, with 60,000 vehicles crossing the bridge on peak weekdays.
As a result of this increased load, the bridge is experiencing stressed structural members and unexpected deformations. Also, extreme weather conditions, such as high winds, cause frequent bridge closures, and having only one lane open in each direction results in upwards of £650,000 in lost revenues per day.
The GeoSHM consortium set out to determine whether it was technical feasible and economically viable to deploy GNSS and Earth Observation technologies to monitor more precisely the Forth Road Bridge. Specifically, they wanted to provide the Bridgemaster with real-time indicators of bridge movement by means of highly sensitive sensors at key locations, as well as map potential long-term subsidence of the supporting structures.
The sensor system consists of one reference GNSS receiver set on the top of the Bridgemaster’s office, two GNSS receivers on each side of the middle span and one set on south tower. And also two high quality ultrasonic anemometers (wind meters) are installed on the bridge.
Automated data acquisition is carried out by these sensors and the real-time data is sent to a data processing centre at the University of Nottingham. The bridge displacement information together with wind loading data can be viewed by the Forth bridgemaster by means of a web-based interface.
While the consortium deployed highly sensitive GNSS receivers and anemometers to measure short-term movement, it also used Earth Observation data to measure long-term ground movement.
EU COPERNICUS DATA
“Based on our experiences with the Forth Road Bridge, we've discovered that EO is a powerful tool to monitor both local changes to the surrounding ground as well displacements of key components of such structures,” said GeoSHM team leader Xiaolin Meng from the University of Nottingham. Analysing historical EO data, the consortium detected no apparent displacements of the towers or the surrounding soil during the previous seven years.
“Based on our experiences with the Forth Road Bridge, we've discovered that EO is a powerful tool to monitor both local changes to the surrounding ground as well displacements of key components of such structures,” said GeoSHM team leader Xiaolin Meng from the University of Nottingham. Analysing historical EO data, the consortium detected no apparent displacements of the towers or the surrounding soil during the previous seven years.
Not all bridges are as stable as the Forth however; EO imagery from China that the consortium has processed reveals ground subsidence around bridge sites located in two cities, Shanghai and Wuhan, that has been caused by the underground engineering and groundwater extraction.
For this kind of analysis, the availability of EO imagery is essential. According to Xiaolin Meng, developing a viable business model for the European market will be greatly facilitated by having free access to the European Unions’s public Copernicus EO data.
Having used the GeoSHM system for six months, Forth Road Bridge Bridgemaster Barry Colford observed: “This information is extremely useful for understanding how much the bridge can move under extreme weather conditions. This allows us to decide to close the bridge based on precise deformation information.”
“For example, I knew that the bridge can move significantly under high wind loading but for the first time I know that bridge moved 3.5 metres laterally and 1.83 metres vertically under wind speed of 41m/s (91 miles per hour),” he said. “Other information provided by the GeoSHM system is also important to define reliable alarm thresholds for issuing the right alerts at the right time.”
BEYOND BRIDGES
The solution installed on the Forth Road Bridge is a small-scale proof of concept to demonstrate the technical feasibility of the solution. The consortium is planning a follow-up project, in which Forth Road Bridge as well as several iconic bridges in China may be used to further develop the technology. The University of Nottingham, China Rail, and China Railway Major Bridge Reconnaissance & Design Institute (BRDI) are also examining the possibility of setting up a commercial company in the UK to promote GeoSHM in China, where nearly half of the world’s long span bridges (bridges with a main span greater than 400m) are situated.
While the GeoSHM solution has been initially designed mainly for monitoring long span bridges, the service also has potential, however, for shorter span bridge, such as Hammersmith Bridge and the Millennium Bridge in the UK. “Eventually GeoSHM could be deployed for monitoring other type of infrastructure as well,” said Xiaolin Meng, “such as offshore wind turbines, masts, towers, dams, viaducts, and high-rise buildings.”
Through the ARTES Integrated Applications programme, ESA has been supporting a variety of infrastructure monitoring activities such as GeoSHM. “We see tremendous potential for deploying space assets in a cost-effective way for this vital activity,” said Beatrice Barresi, a telecom engineer overseeing the project for ESA. “The combination of long-term monitoring of ground levels using Earth Observation data and short-term GNSS positioning creates a potent information service.”
For this kind of analysis, the availability of EO imagery is essential. According to Xiaolin Meng, developing a viable business model for the European market will be greatly facilitated by having free access to the European Unions’s public Copernicus EO data.
Having used the GeoSHM system for six months, Forth Road Bridge Bridgemaster Barry Colford observed: “This information is extremely useful for understanding how much the bridge can move under extreme weather conditions. This allows us to decide to close the bridge based on precise deformation information.”
“For example, I knew that the bridge can move significantly under high wind loading but for the first time I know that bridge moved 3.5 metres laterally and 1.83 metres vertically under wind speed of 41m/s (91 miles per hour),” he said. “Other information provided by the GeoSHM system is also important to define reliable alarm thresholds for issuing the right alerts at the right time.”
BEYOND BRIDGES
The solution installed on the Forth Road Bridge is a small-scale proof of concept to demonstrate the technical feasibility of the solution. The consortium is planning a follow-up project, in which Forth Road Bridge as well as several iconic bridges in China may be used to further develop the technology. The University of Nottingham, China Rail, and China Railway Major Bridge Reconnaissance & Design Institute (BRDI) are also examining the possibility of setting up a commercial company in the UK to promote GeoSHM in China, where nearly half of the world’s long span bridges (bridges with a main span greater than 400m) are situated.
While the GeoSHM solution has been initially designed mainly for monitoring long span bridges, the service also has potential, however, for shorter span bridge, such as Hammersmith Bridge and the Millennium Bridge in the UK. “Eventually GeoSHM could be deployed for monitoring other type of infrastructure as well,” said Xiaolin Meng, “such as offshore wind turbines, masts, towers, dams, viaducts, and high-rise buildings.”
Through the ARTES Integrated Applications programme, ESA has been supporting a variety of infrastructure monitoring activities such as GeoSHM. “We see tremendous potential for deploying space assets in a cost-effective way for this vital activity,” said Beatrice Barresi, a telecom engineer overseeing the project for ESA. “The combination of long-term monitoring of ground levels using Earth Observation data and short-term GNSS positioning creates a potent information service.”