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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - VG360 (Non-contact precision measurement system for structural health monitoring)

Teaser

Summary

The monitoring of structures is one of the ultimate challenges to engineering companies today. Ageing, internal and external factors such as steel corrosion, concrete carbonation, earthquakes, strong rain or wind, degrade the integrity of the structures over time. Any indication of abnormal behavior may also threaten the safety of the structure. A collapse or closure of critical structure can lead to chaos, significant financial losses, and, in some cases, heavy casualties.
In years to come, Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) technology must provide builders and manufacturers with an innovative solution in order to improve the monitoring of infrastructures and tackle numerous societal challenges. In fact, one of the main advantages lies in the real-time monitoring of structures, which will allow a shift from curative maintenance to predictive maintenance. Aside from the cost, predictive maintenance also makes it possible for notice to be given about certain impending societal and economic disasters. The ability of SHM systems to continuously monitor the integrity of structures in real time reinforces the safety of the population, particularly with regard to engineering structures such as bridges, dams and potentially dangerous buildings, like nuclear power stations.
To address these needs, Imetrum has developed VG360, which is a non-contact, full field digital measurement system for remote structural health monitoring of any type of structure, 24Ã—7Ã—365. It is composed of a digital camera connected to a commercial Robotic Total Station (RTS), computer, and intelligent field software. The software is based on Imetrumâ€™s proprietary algorithms for pattern recognition and Digital Imaging Correlation (DIC) for robust image tracking. VG360 will revolutionize the structural health monitoring market, making it fast, simple, efficient and non-invasive. Therefore, the final target for Imetrum team is to provide a wide range of savings for engineers. Being a single system, VG360 reduces up to 70% the set-up, operational and maintenance costs of the structure monitoring.

Work performed

Imetrum undertook a thorough feasibility study under the SME Instrument to assess their position in the market, technical viability, potential for scale-up and determine the most suitable business model for widespread market penetration. The assessment confirmed the VG360 feasibility and that would be highly valuable for the commercial industry. Imetrum reviewed the results achieved with their initial testing to identify needed improvements to be made during the Phase 2 project. Specifically, they defined the necessary upgrades to the firmware necessary for the integration to Topcon RTS series and the steps needed to develop new intrinsic features such as night/day transition and auto-focus features. The company used the feasibility study to scout additional RTS distributors and suppliers to participate in the assembly and in field demonstration of the VG360.

Final results

The expected outcome of the project is to successfully execute the market validation and demonstrate that VG360 allows to perform fast, efficient and accurate assessment of any structure integrity also in hard to get spaces in a non-invasive way. Imetrum innovation has a strong scale-up potential in terms of new market opportunity (e.g., Aerospace, Defense and Energy), technology upgrade and Company sales internationalization at a global level. The potential impact of the technology is therefore game-changing in the Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) market.