May 11, 2022

What does intelligent infrastructure mean for future design, maintenance and operation?

27 minutes

The role of Internet of Things to empower fully intelligent infrastructure comes under the spotlight with a look at what it means for the future of civil engineering in this episode, which is sponsored by Farnell Electronics.

NCE editor Claire Smith is joined by Arup associate director Rory McCully to look back at the evolution embedded sensor technology has brought to infrastructure over the last 25 years and consider what the next 25 years might bring.

Claire starts off with some predictions that were made at NCE’s 25th anniversary in 1997 where it was anticipated by 2022 that there would be self-monitoring, self-policing bridges. These were expected to have their own repair robots and be able to forecast when they had reached their design life.

Rory and Claire conclude that the industry hasn’t quite reached that point yet and that it is still some way off but look at what has been achieved and consider the benefits that Internet of Things and intelligent infrastructure could bring in the future.

Rory also outlines some of the barriers that the industry faces in terms of reaching these benefits, as well as the need for such technology to look at systems rather than infrastructure on a structure by structure level to gain the maximum advantages.

This episode is sponsored by Farnell.

Farnell is a global electronics and industrial solution provider, part of the Avnet group. We deliver products, services, and solutions to thousands of customers around the world who focus on electronic system design, manufacturing, industrial environments, as well as across maintenance and repair sectors. We offer a portfolio of close to 1 million products from thousands of world-leading supplier brands. Engineers come to us at any and every stage of their process, as we are well equipped to offer support with the products they need as well as adding value.

Farnell carry a vast product portfolio of around 80,000 industrial products to support customers in their Industrial Automation journey – all available for fast delivery. We are well placed to offer support across multiple leading supplier brands such as Omega, Schneider, Eaton, ABB, Omron, Siemens, Festo, Mitsubishi, and Phoenix Contact. Our Industrial Automation & Control Hub provides access to a wide range of technical resources to facilitate factory floor design and upgrade of existing systems.

Find out more at uk.farnell.com

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