Smarter information
A decade of transforming infrastructure and construction
THE Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction (CSIC) officially started in 2011, but years of research, conversations and collaborations preceded it. Founders Professor Lord Robert Mair and Professor Kenichi Soga are both world authorities in geotechnical engineering.
Working together in Cambridge in the 1990s, they both recognised that only with data-driven insights could design and construction processes deliver resilient, resource-efficient and cost-effective infrastructure.
The launch of CSIC was timely. A growing digital revolution and period of UK infrastructure construction presented an opportunity for technological innovation in the field.
The UK industry had traditionally been conservative and fragmented, operating within very tight profit margins, with no one organisation having responsibility for the whole life of the asset – which made developing and adopting innovation challenging. It needed to change.
Digital change and emerging technologies brought opportunities to acquire better information on the real performance of assets.
A multidisciplinary approach
Addressing the challenges of the sector required a multidisciplinary approach. Expertise from many engineering disciplines, including civil, information, electrical and industrial, as well as computer science and architecture, all combined to form fresh thinking and integrated solutions from the start.
There was already some interest in smart infrastructure around the world with a range of projects with industry partners in the 2000s. Structures were being monitored in the field. Wireless sensor networks and distributed fibre optic sensing (DFOS) were being explored. An early project using fibre optics with Skanska and BRE (Building Research Establishment) looked at the possible reuse of piles. The data from that project was very convincing of the potential for the technology.
Collaborating with London Underground on a tunnelling project in 2005, researchers used an innovative fibre optic sensing system to instrument an existing Victorian masonry tunnel running just above a new tunnel being constructed for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (HS1). This let the project team monitoring the existing tunnel during construction of the new HS1 tunnel avoid expensive internal support and bracing. The project provided valuable data and highlighted the potential of fibre optic sensing, confirming the value of collaborating with industry in the field to demonstrate the benefits of smart infrastructure solutions.
Confident that this approach could enable step changes by the industry, the Cambridge team submitted a proposal to create CSIC in June 2011. CSIC was one of seven Innovation and Knowledge Centres (IKC) backed and funded by two government bodies, the Technology Strategy Board (now Innovate UK) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
The goal of the IKCs was to translate research into practice and deliver outputs that industry could adopt. Applying world-class research to the infrastructure and construction sector enabled organisations to develop a competitive, entrepreneurial edge to benefit the UK in the global smart infrastructure market. Ideas came both ways – from researchers and from industry – with different perspectives.
A catalyst for transformation
CSIC’s principal aim was to be a catalyst for this transformation by delivering integrated and innovative solutions to challenges across four areas:
- Sensors and data collection
- Data analysis and interpretation
- Whole life asset management
- Cities and infrastructure systems
Monitoring systems combined technologies including fibre optics, computer vision, micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) and wireless sensor networks to test capabilities and compare results. CSIC built industry confidence through an extensive programme of deployments in real applications, completing 200 proofs-of-concept and site demonstrations and attracting 62 formal partners over 10 years. CSIC worked on many of the largest and most complex civil engineering projects in the UK including Crossrail, National Grid London Power Tunnels, London Underground station upgrades, the Staffordshire Alliance West Coast Mainline railway bridges for Network Rail and HS2.
Only by learning much more about the real performance of our infrastructure, through sensing and data analytics, can we make step changes in how we design, construct, operate and maintain our built environment.Working across scales and strategic themes, CSIC has delivered real-world impact. Workshops, training programmes, best practice guides on structural monitoring and asset management, industry secondments, academic and industry papers and awards achieved very effective knowledge exchange – including a partnership with CICES.
Collaborations with technology suppliers enabled the supply chain. Following an initial demonstration project, Cementation Skanska developed a complete fibre optic instrumentation solution to monitor piled foundations, embedded retaining walls and other subsurface constructions, now branded as CemOptics. There have been CSIC spin-outs, including Utterberry, 8-Power and Epsimon.
CSIC works with policymakers, regulators and clients to influence decision-making, and to create a market which incentivises industry to adopt whole life smart and sustainable infrastructure solutions that support the entire life cycle of a system or asset. CSIC is a ‘do-tank ’ not just a ‘think-tank’. It is part of the digital revolution, and one of the leading organisations to make it happen by bringing the idea of smart infrastructure to construction.
The challenges to come
The ability to be a catalyst for change continues. Transforming infrastructure and construction is no small task but faced with global challenges of climate change, resource constraint and ageing infrastructure, the need for resilience and adaptability is greater and the value of monitoring and smart infrastructure increasingly visible.
The past 10 years has prepared CSIC to provide the tools, technologies and forward-thinking to meet the challenges to come. As well as working with other specialist organisations to evolve research expertise, CSIC brings understanding of infrastructure as a complex and interconnected system that must continuously deliver to society. Only by learning much more about the real performance of our infrastructure, through sensing and data analytics, can we make step changes in how we design, construct, operate and maintain our built environment. There is an urgent need to exploit digital technologies to establish a smart and sustainable infrastructure industry that enables society to flourish. Only by doing this can we reduce carbon, increase resilience and preserve resources – always the principal objectives of CSIC which, working in close collaboration with industry, still remain highly relevant today.
Lisa Millard with Professor Lord Robert Mair, University of Cambridge, and Professor Kenichi Soga, University of California, Berkeley, Founders, Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction
www.smartinfrastructure.eng.cam.ac.uk @CSIC_IKC
Professor Mark Girolami, academic director of CSIC, is talking to CES about the future of smart infrastructure in pages 14-15 of this issue.