Home > Archives for November 2021

WBCSD report outlines actions needed to accelerate EV charging infrastructure deployment

November 28, 2021
•

Report outlines actions needed to accelerate EV charging deploymentA new World Business Council for Sustainable Development report has highlighted key business and policy actions that can improve the case for sustainable EV charging infrastructure implementation.



On 10 November 2021 at COP26, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) launched a new report outlining the cross-sectoral actions that are needed to accelerate the deployment of efficient electric vehicle (EV) fleets and sustainable charging infrastructure.



Developed in collaboration with Arcadis, Arval BNP Paribas Group, Eaton, EDP, Enel X, Lanxess, Mercedes-Benz AG, Microsoft, National Grid and Nederlandse Spoorwegen, the report helps businesses and policymakers understand where to invest and how to act to bridge the infrastructure gap.



The uptake of EVs is growing globally, but the current deployment pace of sustainable and inclusive charging infrastructure is insufficient to support the expected number of 350 million electric light-duty vehicles on the roads by 2030. To reach the 1.5° goal of the Paris Agreement, there is a need to rapidly increase the speed and scale of investments in charging infrastructure.
https://www.civilengineering.ai/wbcsd-report-outlines-actions-needed-to-accelerate-ev-charging-infrastructure-deployment/
READ MORE

Reduce flooding from backed up sewers? There's an app for that

November 28, 2021
•

Reduce flooding from backed up sewers? There’s an app for thatIn areas where floods were once rare, now some neighborhoods are flooding repeatedly. Stormwater sewers are being overwhelmed by more intense storms.



Most of the solutions call for big pipes and expensive construction.



A group of researchers is instead helping cities use their current systems better.



There’s an app for that.



The idea behind the research is fairly simple. Even when there’s a lot of rain, there are parts of a combined stormwater and sanitary sewer system that aren’t full. There is storage capacity. The problem is you have to know where.



The answer is going to be different for every system.



“Some places are dealing with very sort of large scale flooding, while others are dealing with water quality impairments. Here in the Great Lakes region, we have a confluence of those,” said Branko Kerkez, an Associate Professor leading a group of Ph.D. students from the University of Michigan’s College Civil and Environmental Engineering.



You’ve heard of self-driving cars. They are engineering self-operating sewer systems.



Kerkez says a rainstorm doesn’t hit a city the same way everywhere at the same time.



“So a good example is it's raining a lot on one part of town, it's not raining that much in another part of town, so you might have storage assets that are not full all the time,” Kerkez explained.



He and his team have been experimenting with cheap monitors that are hooked to the internet. By looking at a computer screen or even a phone, sewer system operators can see what’s going on.



“What are the conditions? Do I have extra storage over here? Can I close that valve to allow another part of the system to drain out? Just like a car that self-driving steers itself. Given changing conditions, water systems in the future may be able to control themselves dynamically in response to these inputs,” Kerkez said.
https://www.civilengineering.ai/reduce-flooding-from-backed-up-sewers-theres-an-app-for-that/
READ MORE

Revealed: Areas with the best and worst road conditions in England

November 28, 2021
•
Revealed: Areas with the best and worst road conditions in England
Revealed: Areas with the best and worst road conditions in EnglandThe areas with the best and worst road conditions in Britain have been revealed.
https://www.civilengineering.ai/revealed-areas-with-the-best-and-worst-road-conditions-in-england/
READ MORE

Smart Building Pioneer Brivo to Become Publicly Traded Company Through Merger With Crown PropTech Acquisitions

November 28, 2021
•

Smart Building Pioneer Brivo to Become Publicly Traded Company Through Merger With Crown PropTech AcquisitionsThe leader in cloud-based access control and smart building technology with end-to-end solutions delivered through SaaS and connected devices



Serves one of the largest, most diversified global customer bases with more than 44,500 enterprise, commercial real estate and multifamily accounts and 23 million active users



Large and growing SaaS- and smart device-based total addressable market (TAM) for products and services currently in excess of $70 billion



Combined company to have an estimated enterprise value of $808 million, positioning it to further capitalize on the smart space market opportunity



Transaction to provide up to $304 million in cash proceeds, including a PIPE totaling $75 million led by Golub Capital Credit Opportunities, with a strategic investment in the PIPE from Eagle Eye Networks



Proceeds will be used to unlock growth by expanding the sales and marketing team, increasing customer acquisition, SaaS service expansion and product development



Expects to generate $417 million in revenue and $290 million in annual recurring revenue in 2025, representing 2021E to 2025E CAGRs of 55% and 70%, respectively



Investor call scheduled for November 10 at 8:00 a.m. ET



BETHESDA, Md. & NEW YORK, November 10, 2021--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Brivo, Inc., the global leader in cloud-based access control and smart building technologies, and Crown PropTech Acquisitions (NYSE:CPTK) ("Crown"), a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company, today announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement that will result in Brivo becoming a publicly listed company. The transaction values the company at a pro forma enterprise value of $808 million. Upon closing, the combined company will operate as Brivo, and its Class A common stock is expected to be listed under the ticker symbol "BRVS." This strategic business combination will enable Brivo to leverage Crown’s experience and relationships as an owner and operator of commercial real estate to accelerate market expansion.
https://www.civilengineering.ai/smart-building-pioneer-brivo-to-become-publicly-traded-company-through-merger-with-crown-proptech-acquisitions-2/
READ MORE

Mobile ticketing launched on Osaka Monorail

November 28, 2021
•

Mobile ticketing launched on Osaka MonorailUsers of the Japan Transit Planner and Norikae Annai journey planning MaaS apps can now benefit from mobile ticketing when travelling on the Osaka Monorail.



Jorudan, Japan’s leading trip planning service – in partnership with Masabi – has announced the launch of mobile ticketing for Osaka Monorail, Japan’s largest elevated rail network, covering 18 stations in the country’s third largest city.



The initial three-month pilot deployment will see the two companies deployed in a major Japanese city, offering a proven mobile ticketing solution on a high-density transit service with high passenger volumes.



From 4 November 2021, passengers can purchase one-day mobile tickets and off-peak mobile tickets, valid for use across the entire network using Jorudan’s two MaaS apps – Japan Transit Planner and Norikae Annai journey planning. The Japanese company has integrated the Justride mobile ticketing SDK into its market-leading MaaS apps, meaning that, once operators sign up to the service, tickets can quickly and easily be made available to all users of both apps.
https://www.civilengineering.ai/mobile-ticketing-launched-on-osaka-monorail/
READ MORE

Canadian Electric Vehicle-To-Grid Project Uses Blockchain

November 27, 2021
•
Canadian Electric Vehicle-To-Grid Project Uses Blockchain
Canadian Electric Vehicle-To-Grid Project Uses BlockchainElectric vehicles have a number of benefits that gas-powered ones do not. To name just a few, they have zero direct toxic emissions, they produce very little road noise, they have fewer moving parts that need replacement or repairs, and in some cases their batteries can be re-purposed for second life use in stationary energy storage products. Another advantage is vehicle-to-grid technology (V2G), which allows plugged-in EVs to draw electricity from the grid and they can also send it back.



In Canada, a V2G project is using a Nissan Leaf connected to a technology platform created by SWTCH that allows electricity to flow from the Leaf’s battery to a multi-tenant building. SWTCH’s CEO, Carter Li, answered some questions about the project for CleanTechnica.



Why is the SWTCH blockchain-based, EV-to-Building pilot being conducted?



The three-year pilot demonstrates how commercial and multi-family building operators can accommodate the growing demand for EV charging stations while simultaneously improving the building’s energy efficiency and reducing building operational costs. Leveraging SWTCH’s bidirectional, vehicle-to-grid (V2G) charging technology, our pilot will explore viability of vehicle-to-grid charging technology in high-density multi-tenant buildings to store energy using EVs during off-peak hours and redistribute that energy to the building and other uni-directional EV chargers during on-peak hours. The technology and model developed by SWTCH is unique as it includes a financial incentive structure for EV owners to participate in the program which leverages blockchain technology. The SWTCH platform tracks when energy is being discharged from an EVs battery and when it’s being charged, creating a history of credits and debits securely managed through a third-party distributed ledger system that participants can monitor using their smartphones.



What are the pilot project goals?



The clean energy pilot aims to improve the electric vehicle (EV) charging access in high-density buildings by addressing the barriers to deploying EV charging infrastructure within the built environment by creating an energy distribution business model that benefits both building operators and EV owners. As electric vehicles gain popularity and adoption, the question of how to accommodate a rise in EV charging infrastructure without additional strain on building electrical infrastructure and the electrical grid becomes increasingly relevant. Vehicle-to-grid technology allows buildings to draw energy from EVs during on-peak hours rather than the grid. During the pilot, the V2G-enabled EVs will store energy during off-peak hours and redistribute that energy to the building and the EV chargers in use, creating an energy flow that is cost-effective and environmentally sustainable. The project also employs bi-directional V2G DCFC charging stations, smart unidirectional Level 2 AC charging stations, and stationary battery energy storage systems as distribute energy resource assets for demand response, peak shaving, and peer-to-peer energy trading purposes.
https://www.civilengineering.ai/canadian-electric-vehicle-to-grid-project-uses-blockchain/
READ MORE

‘Sitting on data is like sitting on an oilfield’: Mark Girolami, the Alan Turing Institute

November 27, 2021
•

‘Sitting on data is like sitting on an oilfield’: Mark Girolami, the Alan Turing InstituteNewly appointed chief scientist at the Alan Turing Institute in central London, Mark Girolami discusses why artificial intelligence has become ‘big news’ and how data-centric engineering is at its core.



“Artificial intelligence is very much an umbrella term,” says Mark Girolami. “When we say AI, what we’re really describing is a whole load of technologies that are characterised by three components at their core: data, computing and algorithms.” Girolami, who has taken up the post of the Alan Turing Institute’s first chief scientist, says that while there are plenty of people out there crossing over into philosophy and neural sciences “solving intelligence”, his approach to AI is based on these three inter-related parameters. A University of Cambridge academic, he also holds the Royal Academy of Engineering research chair in data-centric engineering. The two positions “feed off each other”, he says.



Girolami’s appointment at the Alan Turing Institute comes hot on the heels of the UK government publishing its National AI Strategy, a ten-year plan “to make the UK a global AI superpower”. What this means is that the 58-year-old British scientist has stepped into the role of the Turing’s chief scientist at a time described by the UK’s chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance as “a critical moment for UK science and technology, in particular AI and data science”. Girolami says the reason AI is “big news” now is that “there are a number of factors that have coalesced at one time”.



It’s important to place this in the context of “AI being discussed for many years”. Looking around the institute’s headquarters in London’s British Library, Girolami suggests that you can trace the term back to the mid-20th century mathematician Alan Turing, who famously raised questions such as whether machines could think. But now, there is a confluence of technologies that have taken the notion of AI out of the realms of abstract philosophy and into an area that is “actually useful”. Girolami isn’t having a swipe at philosophers: he’s drawing attention to the fact that “the lives of the average person in the street are now being affected by our ability to gather data on just about everything we do”.



He picks up his smartphone and explains that the amount of data it gathers “about me, where I go, what I do, what my interests are” is colossal. There was a time in a pre-digital landscape, he reflects, when data was in the hands of a few boffins doing weird and wonderful research “that didn’t have much to do with the real world. Now we can look at traffic flow in our cities, urban air quality. It goes on and on. We’re generating more data than ever: more than could have been imagined half a century ago. Also, our computing capabilities have shot up since Turing’s time.”



Given that AI algorithms rely on two everyday conditions of data and computing power, “AI is no longer restricted to laboratories of national importance. These two things mean that the AI algorithms of 30 years ago that plodded along without doing anything spectacular can now recognise patterns and make decisions at almost super-human performance levels. That’s why AI is big news today.” Girolami says that because AI is an umbrella term, you can include other emergent data-led phenomena under it, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), digital twins and Industry 4.0.



“They’re in the same family. They can all be traced back to the start of the internet. What did the internet do? It was the first wave in the way we changed our data capability from being able to view it on a local level to a global reach. Now with IoT, whole buildings are producing data: we can monitor energy efficiency, temperature distribution, occupancy levels and so on.” Yet the reason everyone knows about AI now, says Girolami, is that if you’ve got a smartphone, you’ve got AI in your pocket. From fitness monitoring to consumer behaviour patterns, “there’s pretty much nothing that hasn’t been impacted by the three fields of data, computing and algorithms. That all gets wrapped up in this term AI. The same goes for terms such as deep and machine learning.”



Girolami is keen to point out that today’s AI technologies transforming our lives and businesses have little to do with the horizon-scanning futurism enjoyed by middle-brow newspapers that continually inform us that robots will be taking our jobs. You can trace this back to the 1920s, says Girolami, who describes the scenario of Fritz Lang’s sci-fi movie ‘Metropolis’, in which the cybernetics take over the menial jobs. Yet that’s not what we mean by AI today (and it’s worth remembering that H G Wells thought that ‘Metropolis’ was “silly”). What we’re talking about, says Girolami, is “new technologies based on data-driven algorithms that exploit ubiquitous computing to solve real problems and to open up new markets and business opportunities”.



For all the popularity of the view that data is the bedrock of every technological megatrend in the 21st century, there is the counter argument that the amount of data that gets used productively is just the tip of the iceberg, while there’s not much evidence to suggest that organisations are using their data stock to drive their businesses forward. To judge from Girolami’s wry laugh, this is an argument he’s had to deal with on more than one occasion.



“Sitting on data is like sitting on an oilfield,” he explains. “The latent wealth is incredible. But getting to that wealth is another story entirely. And it’s exactly the same with data. There are lots of sectors that now realise they are sitting on great potential in terms of the data they’re producing. But how you get it out of the ground, how you refine it and apply it to the products that are really going to make you money... that’s the big question. Then there are all the legal, moral and ethical issues surrounding data which are very thorny.”



The big difference between fossil fuels and data though is that while reserves of oil and gas are finite and become progressively harder and more expensive to extract as resources dry up, “data is infinite. That’s one of the big challenges the Alan Turing Institute will be hoping to address: the amount of data we are producing is increasing.”
https://www.civilengineering.ai/sitting-on-data-is-like-sitting-on-an-oilfield-mark-girolami-the-alan-turing-institute/
READ MORE

Scientists invent 'smart' window material that blocks rays without blocking views

November 27, 2021
•
Scientists invent 'smart' window material that blocks rays without blocking views
Scientists invent ‘smart’ window material that blocks rays without blocking views(Nanowerk News) An international research team led by scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has invented a ‘smart’ window material that controls heat transmission without blocking views, which could help cut the energy required to cool and heat buildings.



Developed by NTU researchers, the new energy-saving material for electrochromic (EC) windows that operates at the flick of a switch is designed to block infrared radiation - which is the major component of sunlight that emits heat.

The new material has a specifically designed nanostructure and comprises advanced materials like titanium dioxide (TiO2), tungsten trioxide (WO3),



neodymium-Niobium (Nd-Nb), and tin (IV) oxide (SnO2). The composite material is intended to be coated onto glass window panels, and when activated by electricity, users would be able to ‘switch on and off’ the infrared radiation transmission through the window.

The invention, which featured alongside the front cover of the journal ACS Omega ("Nd–Nb Co-doped SnO2/α-WO3 Electrochromic Materials: Enhanced Stability and Switching Properties"), could block up to 70 per cent of infrared radiation according to experimental simulations without compromising views through the window since it allows up to 90 per cent of visible light to pass through.

The material is also about 30 per cent more effective in regulating heat than commercially available electrochromic windows and is cheaper to make due to its durability.
https://www.civilengineering.ai/scientists-invent-smart-window-material-that-blocks-rays-without-blocking-views/
READ MORE

How smart buildings and smart grids work together to reduce the carbon footprint

November 27, 2021
•

How smart buildings and smart grids work together to reduce the carbon footprint - Infrastructure MagazineBuilding and construction activities are a major cause of carbon emissions. According to the Global Status Report, building and construction combined account for 36 per cent of global final energy use and 39 per cent of energyrelated carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions when upstream power generation is included.



For some time, businesses and governments have worked to reduce the impact of the built environment. For example, the Federal Government introduced the National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) more than 20 years ago – a national rating system that measures the environmental performance of buildings, measuring energy efficiency, water usage, waste management and the indoor environment quality of a building or tenancy and its impact on the environment.



Greater opportunities to decarbonise



Andrew McCluskey, Siemens Australia’s Country Business Unit Head for Smart Infrastructure Regional Solutions & Service, said that the digitalisation of energy and smart building technology is offering building owners greater opportunities to decarbonise.



Integrated hardware and software are providing building operators better opportunities to see what is happening internally, and interact with the energy systems they are connected to in new ways.



“Siemens is also implementing its own decarbonisation strategy with a commitment to become carbon neutral by 2030,” Mr McCluskey said.



“This involves several key concepts around the changing low carbon and energy efficient landscape, and how the grid and smart buildings are starting to work together in new, connected ways.”



Sustainable urban precincts program



Siemens played an instrumental role in the ambitious sustainability program undertaken by RMIT, to reduce its energy and water use and carbon emissions by 25 per cent. The $128 million program started in 2014 and at the time was the largest Sustainable Urban Precincts Program in the Southern Hemisphere.



The program was implemented across RMIT’s three Melbourne campuses, with Siemens responsible for the City Campus, which is made up of 90 buildings across two city blocks.



The project’s aim was to reduce electricity use over eight years by an estimated 239 million kW, which is enough electricity to power 7,000 houses for six years. This is equivalent to a 30,000 tonne reduction in greenhouse gas emissions – the same as planting an area the size of Melbourne CBD with 128,000 trees annually.



The program replaced 2,000 fixtures and had a target to reduce water use by an estimated 68 million litres. Impressively, the targets were achieved four years ahead of schedule. As part of the project, a Distributed Energy System was implemented, encompassing new HV infrastructure as well as two cogeneration systems.



Also included was Siemens’ building management system (Desigo) and Siemens software to monitor and analyse energy consumption and savings. Siemens likes to call the way forward the ‘grid interactive’ building which incorporates newer and smarter technologies.



Three stages to becoming a grid interactive building



From Siemens’ perspective there are three stages a company can take to become a grid interactive building:



1. Load management: this is where all electricity loads within a building’s footprint are managed whilst using automation and enhanced algorithms to predict or suggest more energy efficient actions



2. Optimisation within the building or campus: this is bringing together a portfolio of many buildings to have a centralised management view, which in turn leads to better decision making



3. Demand flexibility: this is about understanding the total loads along with internal patterns and needs, and once understood, it can start looking at a future where it interacts and optimises the grid at a building level



It is clear the building sector has the potential for significant improvement. Vital to this is expert support from specialist companies that understand buildings; so it can prioritise the right actions across the business and manage the risks around project implementation, performance and finance.
https://www.civilengineering.ai/how-smart-buildings-and-smart-grids-work-together-to-reduce-the-carbon-footprint/
READ MORE

Scanalytics, Inc. Receives $1.3M Plus-Up Contract From US Department of Energy ARPA-E for Scaling Its Smart Building Technologies

November 27, 2021
•
Scanalytics, Inc. Receives $1.3M Plus-Up Contract From US Department of Energy ARPA-E for Scaling Its Smart Building Technologies
Scanalytics, Inc. Receives $1.3M Plus-Up Contract From US Department of Energy ARPA-E for Scaling Its Smart Building TechnologiesThis plus-up contract will be used to expand next generation surface sensors for optimizing utility usage in buildings



MILWAUKEE, Nov. 09, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Scanalytics Inc. today announced that it received a plus-up contract from the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) bringing the total amount awarded to just over $2.1 million since the start of the project. This continuation award will be used to further scale their proprietary sensor and software technology for improving utility usage and occupant comfort in buildings. Scanalytics is receiving this plus-up after successfully completing the first project in the ARPA-E SENSOR program.



"This will enable us to deliver sensor material and hardware innovations that match the maturity of our data platform. The additional investment by ARPA-E makes critical research and development possible as well as allows us to bring the new technology to market faster," said Joe Scanlin, Scanalytics Inc. Co-founder and CEO. "We need to redefine what it means for a building to be considered 'intelligent'. Our partnership with ARPA-E makes it possible for us to deliver a system that will help a building computationally consider the stochastic changes in their operating conditions, and adjust proactively to avoid the tradeoff between utility waste and occupant comfort. Our solution exploits the ubiquity of floor surfaces as the primary occupant-navigation method in buildings, which means we obviate the need for occupants to interact directly with the system. This advantage allows us to deliver precise occupancy while simultaneously preserving occupant privacy."



"This will enable us to deliver sensor material and hardware innovations that match the maturity of our data platform. The additional investment by ARPA-E makes critical research and development possible as well as allows us to bring the new technology to market faster," said Joe Scanlin, Scanalytics Inc. Co-founder and CEO



"The support we receive from ARPA-E allows us to focus on the occupancy-based energy efficiency use case and has allowed us to greatly improve our counting accuracy by iterating quickly and simultaneously on both the sensor hardware and the software algorithms. It's a great opportunity to continue this project with ARPA-E as we continue to innovate in this space," added Co-founder and Chief Scientist David Webber, Ph.D.



Scanalytics Inc. received its competitive award from ARPA-E's Saving Energy Nationwide in Structures with Occupancy Recognition (SENSOR) program. The program seeks to drastically improve the efficiency of businesses across the United States, as heating, ventilation and cooling consumes over one-third of the energy used by commercial and residential buildings.
https://www.civilengineering.ai/scanalytics-inc-receives-1-3m-plus-up-contract-from-us-department-of-energy-arpa-e-for-scaling-its-smart-building-technologies/
READ MORE

Extend Building Automation and Control with LoRaWAN

November 27, 2021
•

Extend Building Automation and Control with LoRaWANHistorically, building management systems were hardwired, making it challenging to update or modify these systems. The advent of LPWANs has changed the equation to simplify and extend existing systems to address emerging smart-building requirements.



What you’ll learn:



How LoRaWAN can extend existing BACnet systems for cost-effective smart-building management.

Three approaches to leverage BACnet and LoRaWAN concurrently,

Buildings and even entire campuses worldwide are being renovated and repurposed like never before to create healthier, more efficient, and sustainable environments. As systems evolve, they also place greater demands on building management systems (BMS), which handle everything from light, temperature, air, and water to security and servicing.



The global standard communications protocol for building automation and control (BAC) is BACnet. As with many legacy systems, BACnet is hardwired. Consequently, it’s expensive to install, hard to expand with respect to coverage, and even harder to add functionality that aligns with emerging building requirements that monitor the cleanliness of air, personal safety, room usage, and social distancing. However, the broad availability of low-power wide-area networks (LPWANs) offers an easy way to augment BMS functionality by combining BACnet and LoRaWAN technologies.



Managed by the LoRa Alliance, the LoRaWAN standard is the leading LPWAN protocol designed to wirelessly connect battery operated “things” to the internet in private, regional, national, or global public networks. It addresses key Internet of Things (IoT) requirements such as bidirectional communication, end-to-end security, mobility, and localization services.



LoRa Alliance members include technology leaders such as Amazon Web Services, Cisco, Microsoft, Orange, and Semtech, among many more as part of the largest IoT ecosystem. In the smart-building space, companies like Acklio, Setemi, Talkpool, Voytech, and Wattsense are at the leading edge of deploying LoRaWAN with BACnet. What follows reveals how they do it.
https://www.civilengineering.ai/extend-building-automation-and-control-with-lorawan/
READ MORE

Dept. of Energy to fund 10 pilot smart building projects

November 27, 2021
•
Dept. of Energy to fund 10 pilot smart building projects
Dept. of Energy to fund 10 pilot smart building projects | Building Design + ConstructionThe U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) said it will fund $61 million for 10 pilot projects that will deploy new technology for thousands of homes and workplaces to accelerate renewable energy adoption and grid resilience.



The 10 connected communities will equip more than 7,000 buildings with smart controls, sensors, and analytics to reduce energy use, costs, and emissions. The technology will allow building systems to interact with the electrical grid to optimize energy consumption.



U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm said the projects will “help universalize the technology” and further efforts towards “a carbon-neutral, clean energy economy by 2050.” Connected communities of grid-interactive efficient buildings (GEBs) use smart controls, sensors, and analytics to communicate with the electric grid, reducing the amount of energy they require during periods of peak demand.



A recent DOE study estimated that by 2030 GEBs could save up to $18 billion per year in power system costs and cut 80 million tons of carbon emissions each year. That is more than the annual emissions of 50 medium-sized coal plants or 17 million cars. DOE says its first two connected communities in Alabama and Georgia have already demonstrated this potential by using 42%-44% less energy than today’s average all-electric home.
https://www.civilengineering.ai/dept-of-energy-to-fund-10-pilot-smart-building-projects/
READ MORE

Connected cars: The race for the car of the future

November 27, 2021
•

Connected cars: The race for the car of the futureFor Intelligent Transport, Osborne Clarke’s Arty Rajendra and Matthew White consider how connected technologies are disrupting the automotive industry and discuss what the future of car connectivity may look like, as well as outline the legal challenges that are being faced by the sector in this field.



Over the past 10 years, the automotive industry has gone through a period of immense upheaval. Traditional business models, supply chains and incumbent market players are all being challenged by a wave of new entrants that are shaking up the market.



This upheaval has been caused by several trends affecting the industry, including the emergence of autonomous vehicles, growth in shared mobility and the electrification of the vehicle network. While each of these has played a major role in unsettling the market, the greatest disruption can probably be attributed to another trend: connective technology. Whether fully or semi-autonomous, hybrid or electric, shared or personal, connectivity is expected to be the defining feature of ‘the car of the future’.



The fully connected car will be made up of an ecosystem of connected technologies which will enable it to transfer and process large amounts of data while travelling at high-speed. The ability to communicate a substantial volume of information bi-directionally is necessary to support the two main pillars of connectivity: infotainment and infrastructure.
https://www.civilengineering.ai/connected-cars-the-race-for-the-car-of-the-future/
READ MORE

Expert: Holiday traffic jams could be prevented by ‘smart concrete’

November 27, 2021
•

Expert: Holiday traffic jams could be prevented by ‘smart concrete’THANKSGIVING TRAVEL: As an expected 13% more Americans prepare to travel for Thanksgiving this year, construction on major interstates could leave millions in traffic jams. Purdue University civil engineering professor Luna Lu can discuss how her research is working to cut down on road repairs and traffic through the development of “smart concrete.”



“Traffic jams caused by infrastructure repairs have wasted four billion hours and three billion gallons of gas on a yearly basis. This is primarily due to insufficient knowledge and understanding of our infrastructure’s condition,” Lu says. “For instance, we don’t know when concrete will reach the right strength needed for opening up major roads to traffic after construction. In many states, major interstates need to reopen in a 12-hour window, which only leaves three to four hours for concrete to cure. The concrete may go through premature failure, leading to frequent repairing.”



SMART CONCRETE: Lu and her students have invented technology that addresses two big challenges in road construction: figuring out exactly when concrete is strong enough to handle heavy traffic and improving the durability of concrete. In reducing the frequency of road repairs, these inventions could also save millions of taxpayer dollars.



Road sensors: To better communicate with concrete, Lu’s lab has developed sensors that wirelessly track concrete strength development in real time, giving engineers more precise data on how much time is needed before traffic can use new concrete pavement. In 2019, the Indiana Department of Transportation began embedding these sensors in Indiana highways. Lu has also been working with the Federal Highway Administration to embed the sensors in other states, including California, Texas, Missouri, Tennessee, Colorado and North Dakota.

Self-healing concrete: Harsh winters can cause concrete to crack. Lu’s lab discovered that mixing nano-silica materials into concrete can help the mixture to seal its own cracks while regaining strength. The healing process also prevents water from seeping into the concrete and corroding steel or rebar reinforcement.

NEXT UP – SMART ASPHALT AND SOIL: Lu’s research currently applies to concrete, the most challenging road material to repair, but could resolve issues with other road materials in the future.



“Like with concrete, we can understand the conditions of strength for materials such as asphalt and soil, and use that information to determine traffic opening time,” Lu says.



VIDEO: A video of Lu discussing how her research could improve roads has been uploaded to the AP Video Hub. All videos in the Campus Insights series are free for download and use by AP members at apvideohub.ap.org or by doing a general search on the Associated Press site or AP Newsroom. AP members can use the video or pull quotes for a print article, broadcast or podcast.



About Purdue University



Purdue University is a top public research institution developing practical solutions to today’s toughest challenges. Ranked in each of the last four years as one of the 10 Most Innovative universities in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, Purdue delivers world-changing research and out-of-this-world discovery. Committed to hands-on and online, real-world learning, Purdue offers a transformative education to all. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue has frozen tuition and most fees at 2012-13 levels, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap at https://purdue.edu/.



Writer, Media contact: Kayla Wiles, 765-494-2432, wiles5@purdue.edu



Source: Luna Lu, luna@purdue.edu
https://www.civilengineering.ai/expert-holiday-traffic-jams-could-be-prevented-by-smart-concrete/
READ MORE

Cohesion Announces $15 Million Series A Financing to Advance the Commercial Real Estate Transformation to Data-Driven, Smart Buildings Amid a New Era of Hybrid Work

November 27, 2021
•
Cohesion Announces $15 Million Series A Financing to Advance the Commercial Real Estate Transformation to Data-Driven, Smart Buildings Amid a New Era of Hybrid Work
Cohesion Announces $15 Million Series A Financing to Advance the Commercial Real Estate Transformation to Data-Driven, Smart Buildings Amid a New Era of Hybrid WorkCHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cohesion, a leader in smart building and digital twin SaaS technology, raised $15 million in its Series A financing round co-led by Morgan Stanley Next Level Fund and Hyde Park Angels (HPA), which closed Friday.



The company added several marquee names to an already noteworthy list of investors following a $5 million seed round last summer. New investors, Three Bridges Private Capital and Wintrust Ventures, join seed round investors Singapore-based Frasers Property Group, ESD, Ken Griffin, Citadel Founder and CEO, Michael Sacks of GCM Grosvenor, and Raj Gupta of ESD.



“We were pleased to co-lead Cohesion’s Series A with Next Level Fund’s inaugural investment,” said Alice Vilma, Co-Portfolio Manager, Morgan Stanley Next Level Fund. “With the support of our corporate partners, Microsoft, Hearst and Walmart, we aim to accelerate Cohesion’s API-first technology platform to disrupt commercial real estate operations.”



The company will use the funds for product and market expansion including its digital twin technology for optimizing building environment and health. Cohesion continues to create one of the world’s largest repositories of commercial real estate data, which it uses to establish industry operations benchmarks. Bringing this data to life through artificial intelligence and predictive modeling, the company will lead the industry transformation to autonomous buildings. It will also continue to focus on strategic channel growth, partnering with firms such as Morgan Stanley, Transwestern, The John Buck Company, and Riverside Investment & Development.



“Bringing the power and promise of autonomous technology to commercial real estate is more critical today than ever before,” said Thru Shivakumar, Co-Founder and CEO at Cohesion. “As a leader in this emerging space, we have the technological capability to connect disparate systems and use big data to make buildings more transparent, healthier, engaging and sustainable. Investing in technology that ensures commercial real estate is a positive contributor to our world is central to our company ethos.”



With tens of millions of square feet of commercial office space under its management, Cohesion is continuing to transform commercial real estate with smart technologies that improve the tenant experience, streamline operations and optimize revenue. Its patented platform combines the three main factors that impact building operations – the human aspect, building systems and environmental elements – into a single, multi-function management and data platform that simulates building operations to predict outcomes for the rapidly evolving industry.



“We believe there is a need for the solutions Cohesion is creating,” said Cohesion Board Member Steve Koch, HPA member and former Global Chair of M&A at Credit Suisse. “By connecting the things that matter – whether it is improving health through effective air quality management, supporting ESG and sustainability programs, or delivering insights – Cohesion is poised for success through its next generation technology.”
https://www.civilengineering.ai/cohesion-announces-15-million-series-a-financing-to-advance-the-commercial-real-estate-transformation-to-data-driven-smart-buildings-amid-a-new-era-of-hybrid-work/
READ MORE

Smart building startup Cohesion raises $15M

November 27, 2021
•

Smart building startup Cohesion raises $15MBacked by Ken Griffin, Cohesion helps building managers bring tech upgrades to their spaces. A Chicago software firm that helps building managers bring tech upgrades to their spaces has raised more funding from big names as it looks to grow its product.



Cohesion announced Wednesday that it raised $15 million in new funding led by Morgan Stanley's Next Level Fund and Hyde Park Angels. Other backers include Citadel founder Ken Griffin, GCM Grosvenor CEO Michael Sacks and Environmental Systems Design chairman Raj Gupta.
https://www.civilengineering.ai/smart-building-startup-cohesion-raises-15m/
READ MORE

SmartConnect delivers how-to information for practitioners deploying smart building technologies

November 27, 2021
•

SmartConnect delivers how-to information for practitioners deploying smart building technologiesLEDs Magazine colleagues at Smart Buildings Technology will hold a day-long virtual event on Nov. 17, 2021, with the “SmartConnect” event program beginning at 10:30 AM ET. The online learning opportunity will feature technical presentations that delve into connected lighting, security concerns, wireless infrastructure, the Internet of Things (IoT) and its role in building connectivity, and network physical-layer infrastructure.



As written earlier this summer, Smart Buildings Technology was launched in 2021 to cover technologies, building design, and applications in smart buildings from an integration and information/operations technology (IT/OT) professional vantage point, delivering actionable intel on the growing market, wired and wireless networking technologies, building equipment and management, and more for the deployment of advanced systems into intelligent buildings.



Smart Buildings Technology chief editor Patrick McLaughlin will keynote the event, outlining recent findings from the organization’s first business intelligence report in collaboration with Endeavor Business Media’s Strategies Unlimited market research arm in a presentation called “A 3D Look at the Smart Buildings Market: Directions, Drivers, and Dynamics.”



The report, titled “Smart Building Technology Adoption,” provides information and statistics on the use of intelligent systems in commercial and institutional properties. Learn more and purchase the full report at the Strategies Unlimited website.



During SmartConnect, presenters from companies such as Future Electronics, ABB, AEM, Belden, and Assa Abloy Opening Solutions will discuss topics ranging from Bluetooth mesh networking to 5G and wireless connectivity and other solutions for smart buildings. Representatives from the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and Underwriters Laboratories (UL) will summarize the market drivers that are pushing industry standards and certification bodies to develop benchmarking and assessment criteria for intelligent building equipment and whole systems transformation to prepare for future connectivity and data-driven operations across commercial, institutional, and industrial settings.



The day-long SmartConnect virtual program is free to attend and will be archived on demand for 90 days after the conclusion of the live presentations. Register now to attend SmartConnect and gain access to a knowledge base that spans building infrastructure, information, and integration roles.



CARRIE MEADOWS is associate editor of LEDs Magazine, with 20 years’ experience in business-to-business publishing across technology markets including solid-state technology manufacturing, fiberoptic communications, machine vision, lasers and photonics, and LEDs and lighting.
https://www.civilengineering.ai/smartconnect-delivers-how-to-information-for-practitioners-deploying-smart-building-technologies/
READ MORE

Hisense Plans to Acquire Siemens Intelligent Traffic Systems

November 26, 2021
•

Hisense Plans to Acquire Siemens Intelligent Traffic Systems - PandailyChinese home appliance maker Hisense planned to invest nearly $1 billion to acquire Siemens’ Intelligent Traffic Systems (ITS), 21st Century Business Herald reported on Wednesday. Hisense has not responded to the report.



In November, Siemens announced it was splitting its ITS division into a separate company. Subsequently, many media outlets reported that Siemens was planning to divest its the transportation business in 2021, which was expected to involve more than 40 countries and regions.



According to public information, Siemens Mobility has a history of more than 100 years. It offers intelligent and efficient mobility solutions for urban, intercity and freight transportation.



Siemens ITS, belonging to Siemens Mobility, mainly provides intelligent solutions for improving mobility on roads and in cities, with annual revenue exceeding 600 million euros ($678.8 million) and has been maintaining steady growth.



SEE ALSO: China’s High-Speed Rail and the Global Push for Green Transit



Zhang Sihai, President of Hisense TransTech, revealed earlier in an interview that Hisense’s intelligent transportation sector is also actively expanding overseas. The acquisition of Siemens ITS, therefore, will bring more opportunities for its overseas expansion.



According to data released by Chinese transportation inquiry platform 7its.com, Hisense ranked first in the total order scale of city-based smart transportation products from 2011 to 2020. At present, Hisense intelligent transportation products and solutions have been deployed in more than 169 cities throughout China.
https://www.civilengineering.ai/hisense-plans-to-acquire-siemens-intelligent-traffic-systems/
READ MORE

Traffic Technologies wins $5.7m contract, validating its technology within the Smart City segment

November 26, 2021
•

Traffic Technologies wins $5.7m contract, validating its technology within the Smart City segment - StockheadTraffic Technologies’ contract win today further establishes its credentials in the multi-billion intelligent transport and Smart City sectors.



Provider of end-to-end traffic management, IoT and Smart City solutions, Traffic Technologies LTD (ASX:TTI) has just won a significant contract worth $5.7m from Coates, an Australian-based traffic control equipment rental company.



The deal was awarded to Intelligent Traffic Systems (iTS), a Brisbane-based business that was acquired by TTI earlier this year.



Under the sales contract with Coates, iTS will supply $5.7m of Intelligent Traffic Control equipment, consisting of electronic signs, radar equipment and associated software.



Delivery of the signs is expected to be completed by June 2022.



iTS’ Intelligent Traffic Control equipment can monitor, display and inform motorists of road hazards, construction zones and adverse conditions ahead, optimising traffic flows.



The technology effectively enables motorists to make informed decisions ahead of time in a timely manner, enabling smoother traffic flows on the road network.



“Such a significant contract is a further endorsement of the company’s expansion into the Smart City profile,” commented Traffic Technologies CEO, Con Liosatos.



“This was achieved through the important acquisition of the iTS business, and its Intelligent Traffic Control solutions.”



Long term contracts and solid balance sheet

In June this year, TTI acquired iTS, a business focused on the design and manufacture of electronic road signage and software systems.



That acquisition has today proven to enhance the company’s position in the intelligent transport sector.



This sector represents a value proposition for state road authorities and local councils in managing congested roads.



Today’s deal follows an announcement earlier this month of a capital raising to reduce TTI’s debt, and execute its growth and acquisition strategy.



Funds from the $10.13m rights issue are expected to reduce debt by more than 60%, and interest costs by 70% or $1.6m.



The fresh capital will also be used to execute its acquisition strategy to leverage its comprehensive traffic solutions, by continuing to expand and commercialise its SaaS platform.



TTI is positioned to be a big winner from the push towards Internet of Things (IoT), big data and digitisation in traffic technology.



In 2020, the global big data industry was worth about US$138.9 billion, and is expected to grow to about US$229.4 billion by 2025.



TTI recorded a solid FY21 performance with improvements across all key metrics, with revenue growing strongly (including recurring revenues, which account for 40% of the total), along with numerous long-term contracts signed.



MD of Traffic Technologies Con Liosatos will be hosting a love and online investor briefing tomorrow at 11am AEDT. Click here to register.
https://www.civilengineering.ai/traffic-technologies-wins-5-7m-contract-validating-its-technology-within-the-smart-city-segment/
READ MORE

HYDROINFORMATICS: REDEFINING WHAT’S POSSIBLE FOR WATER UTILITIES

November 26, 2021
•

Hydroinformatics: Redefining What’s Possible for Water UtilitiesAs the water sector continues to scale smart water solutions, hydroinformatics is a powerful force helping utilities to transform how they manage water.



What is Hydroinformatics?



Hydroinformatics engineers combine multidisciplinary experience with optimization and hydraulic modeling skills, a deep understanding of the water cycle and a passion for using data to improve the urban watershed for local communities. They leverage expertise from traditional civil and environmental engineering disciplines, machine learning, control theory, and even sociotechnical systems, to maximize the potential of digital technologies and identify innovative approaches to solve age-old challenges.



Hydroinformatics engineers develop and implement algorithms and analytics that give water operators more visibility into system performance, to help prevent disruptions, identify efficiencies and make better decisions. They analyze challenges to devise custom, highly configured algorithmic solutions and help implement, test and refine them to create a real-time decision support system.



RELATED: How to Create an I&I Model



By comparing the utility’s day-to-day performance against historical data, these engineers help water operators detect and even predict events, and discover new ways to deliver water, energy, and cost savings.



As climate change impacts and environmental issues escalate, hydroinformatics engineers play an even more critical role in redefining the possibilities for water.



To discover more about hydroinformatics, Water & Wastes Digest spoke to Bryant McDonnell, senior manager of Hydroinformatics and Process Control at Xylem to discuss how his team is moving the dial for utilities, empowering them to deliver remarkable cost savings and new levels of efficiency and control.
https://www.civilengineering.ai/hydroinformatics-redefining-whats-possible-for-water-utilities/
READ MORE

What is BIM, And How Are Digital Twins Changing the Game?

November 26, 2021
•

What is BIM, And How Are Digital Twins Changing the Game?There’s been a lot of talk about BIM, and how it’s changing the built environment industry, but what is it? And how is it transforming the way construction, development and design is happening? Just read our short summary and learn everything you need to know about the opportunities in this space!



Building Information Modelling (BIM) simply means creating and managing digital information about a building, a group of buildings or infrastructure – but, actually has plenty of different ways in which it is implemented.



BIM has what are called “Maturity Levels” which tell you how advanced a form of BIM a project is using, and below is a breakdown of how these are broken down:



Basic level (Level 0) – includes unmanaged Computer Aided Design (CAD), alongside text-based information about the project.

Level 1 – expands on Level 0 by using some 3D CAD and a common data sharing system

Level 2 – was the minimum for all publicly procured projects until 2018 and puts building information into a 3D environment, with data attached to it and divided into specialist areas. There’s now UK BIM Framework which is the new standard for public projects

Level 3 – uses an integrated approach, where all vital construction information is within a single online project model

Level 4 – encompasses the above, but goes one step further incorporating social outcomes and wellbeing into the picture as well



BIM uptake has been really speeding up, although it still hasn’t been fully adopted. With a 2020 survey saying that 73% of respondents are using BIM this may seem a way off, but in comparison to the 31% in the 2012 survey, it’s a huge leap!

So with BIM covered now, what are “Digital Twins” and how do they fit into this? Basically, they serve as a real-time counterpart to the built asset – enabling full visualisation of a project. The term was defined by NASA as a way of improving their modelling of spacecraft in 2010 and represents the next frontier for digital technology in construction.



The use of this technology has some really major benefits for both delivering and managing projects, with their use of continuous data feeds ensuring that project managers know exactly what is going on with a structure or scheme.



Digital Twins can be used to explore the interaction of people with the built environment; allowing for greater safety, better energy usage and improvements to be made in user experience.



They also enable up to date augmented reality models to be made which allows everyone involved in the project to be able to get an accurate overview. And this technology doesn’t just apply to single projects, for example in modeling city environments with better detail than ever before!



To find out more about Digital Twins, see their most popular myths debunked and reveal how they plan to avoid the pitfalls that BIM has faced, join our upcoming event that we’re hosting with our friends at 3DRepo!
https://www.civilengineering.ai/what-is-bim-and-how-are-digital-twins-changing-the-game/
READ MORE

Metro-North Railroad receives the APTA’s Commuter Rail Safety Award

November 26, 2021
•

Metro-North Railroad receives the APTA’s Commuter Rail Safety AwardMetro-North Railroad has received the American Public Transportation Association’s 2021 Gold Award for Commuter Rail Safety for third time in six years.



MTA Metro-North Railroad has been the declared the winner of the American Public Transportation Association’s (APTA) 2021 Gold Award for Commuter Rail Safety for an innovative system that allows train dispatchers to ensure worker safety by de-energising tracks at the touch of a button, streamlining a process that formerly involved manually filling out paper forms.



Known as the Plate Order Protection System (POPS), the safety system was developed in-house by Metro-North’s Communications and Signals Team. POPS gives rail traffic controllers and power directors a computer-based option to set parameters for de-energising tracks within a work area from the Operations Control Centre in real time. A plate order is a request that is filled out to remove a track from service for electrical work. Under this new system, it is submitted by the power director and graphically displayed on the dispatcher’s screen, protecting employees working within a defined work zone and preventing misrouted trains from getting too close.



APTA announced its annual Safety, Security and COVID-19 Gold Awards and Certificates of Merit at its national conference of public transportation agencies in Orlando, Florida. Metro-North took the top prize in the commuter/inter-city railroad category for the third time in six years.
https://www.civilengineering.ai/metro-north-railroad-receives-the-aptas-commuter-rail-safety-award/
READ MORE

Future Construction Technology: A Growing Need For Construction Professionals

November 26, 2021
•

Future Construction Technology: A Growing Need For Construction ProfessionalsConstruction technology is a broad term meaning the science and art of building things, machines, or other forms, and also comes from Latin ad hoc and Old French construction which means “nameless”. To build is the verb, and the word for construction is construction: How a thing is constructed, the reality of its construction, whether it is man-made or organic. Modern construction technology has also come to refer to the processes used in constructing buildings, bridges, tunnels, skyscrapers, ships, aircraft, and other things: the science of the building itself; the engineering of the construction; and the construction methods themselves, such as CNC machine programming. But most commonly, construction technology refers to the tools, materials, and machinery used in building.



One of the most dominant construction technology trends in today’s economy is the use of CAD software. CAD is an acronym for Computer-Aided Design, and it refers to computer-aided design programs that allow people to create three-dimensional or computer-generated models of anything that can be created using traditional, manual techniques, such as drawing or engineering drawings. It is often used in the fields of architecture, engineering, and civil engineering to create blueprints for products and construction projects. Although this type of technology was initially developed as an alternative to more costly building methods, it has become a mainstay in many businesses today because it is very accurate and produces a greater degree of quality than even manually-created designs. Because it can be used in literally every area of human endeavor, it has expanded into all aspects of the business.



Another emerging construction technology trend is the development and adoption of new materials and products. The advent of a wide variety of durable, affordable building materials has helped manage the cost of construction in ways that were previously impossible. For example, composite lumber, metal sheets, recycled beams, precast columns, and concrete forms are just some of the new products that have revolutionized the way that construction is done. Many companies are now using these new technologies to cut costs by avoiding the need to buy new building materials whenever their current stock starts to wear out. They also use the materials and equipment to help create a more energy-efficient structure, which helps them save money on their electricity bills and improve the environment.



Read More https://techannouncer.com/future-construction-technology-a-growing-need-for-construction-professionals/
https://www.civilengineering.ai/future-construction-technology-a-growing-need-for-construction-professionals/
READ MORE

Connectivity: The fundamental ingredient of a successful smart city

November 26, 2021
•

Connectivity: The fundamental ingredient of a successful smart cityFrank Stoecker, CEO and co-founder, EMnify, explores why the IoT and the future of smart cities depend on smart mobility as a key building block

Smart cities and smart city ideals are emerging as the bedrock of sustainable urban planning, offering high standards of living to residents. Smart mobility plays a central role in this emergence, delivering sustainable transportation and improving lives. Yet its success depends upon rapid, secure, reliable methods of connectivity.



Despite the expectations of the twentieth century, with the technological promise of The Jetsons, and the hit-and-miss prophecies of the BBC’s Tomorrow’s World, we’re not yet travelling around in flying cars or riding bicycles across bodies of water(1). Yet, with the accelerated rate of digitisation and the development of new technologies, some futuristic expectations are starting to crystallise on a citywide scale.



Smart cities are beginning to arrive in force, originating through trials and testing in Europe in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s. From early forays that focused on information and communications initiatives, sustainable spaces, grid energy solutions and data capture using geographical information systems (GIS), a more cohesive smart infrastructure has started to spring forth.



Singapore’s Smart Nation vision aims to capture information throughout the city, using sensors linked to aggregation boxes, to deliver services based on traffic volumes and pedestrian activity. Its National Research Foundation is leading the development of Virtual Singapore, a dynamic 3D city model and collaborative data platform.



Oslo is addressing climate change with the wide use of sensors to control lighting, heating and cooling, with a goal to cut emissions by as much as 95% by 2030, as well as developing a smart grid, with widespread electric vehicle charging technologies.



Connected London is delivering full-fibre connectivity across the city, combining buildings with street assets such as lighting columns and bus stops to create a comprehensive grid of smart sensors and charging points. Small mobile transmitters for 5G are also being deployed to deliver citywide improvements to connectivity and future growth.
https://www.civilengineering.ai/connectivity-the-fundamental-ingredient-of-a-successful-smart-city-2/
READ MORE

VIC Gov delivering high-capacity signalling

November 23, 2021
•

VIC Gov delivering high-capacity signalling - Infrastructure MagazineVictoria’s Cranbourne and Pakenham train lines will soon use high-capacity signalling (HCS) to increase the number and frequency of trains.



Crews will begin installing the new HCS equipment along the lines from mid-December 2021, which will be one of the final pieces of the puzzle to deliver a true ‘turn up and go’ network when the Metro Tunnel opens in 2025. HCS is a new signalling system that enables trains to safely run closer together, meaning they can travel more frequently.



The project will install 55km of signalling, which will allow trains to run every two to three minutes, and has been designed to replace the current system, which uses coloured signals to indicate when it is safe for a train to proceed.



Crews will test the signalling equipment at various points along the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines over eleven days, to ensure it’s operating correctly and installed in the right location.



Testing on the lines between Caulfield and Westall stations has already commenced, to examine communication between signalling equipment on the ground and on the train.



Buses will replace trains on some sections of the Cranbourne, Pakenham and Frankston lines from 8.30pm on Tuesday 14 December until the last service on Thursday 23 December while the signalling and testing works take place.
https://www.civilengineering.ai/vic-gov-delivering-high-capacity-signalling/
READ MORE

Connectivity: The fundamental ingredient of a successful smart city

November 23, 2021
•

Connectivity: The fundamental ingredient of a successful smart cityFrank Stoecker, CEO and co-founder, EMnify, explores why the IoT and the future of smart cities depend on smart mobility as a key building block

Smart cities and smart city ideals are emerging as the bedrock of sustainable urban planning, offering high standards of living to residents. Smart mobility plays a central role in this emergence, delivering sustainable transportation and improving lives. Yet its success depends upon rapid, secure, reliable methods of connectivity.



Despite the expectations of the twentieth century, with the technological promise of The Jetsons, and the hit-and-miss prophecies of the BBC’s Tomorrow’s World, we’re not yet travelling around in flying cars or riding bicycles across bodies of water(1). Yet, with the accelerated rate of digitisation and the development of new technologies, some futuristic expectations are starting to crystallise on a citywide scale.



Smart cities are beginning to arrive in force, originating through trials and testing in Europe in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s. From early forays that focused on information and communications initiatives, sustainable spaces, grid energy solutions and data capture using geographical information systems (GIS), a more cohesive smart infrastructure has started to spring forth.



Singapore’s Smart Nation vision aims to capture information throughout the city, using sensors linked to aggregation boxes, to deliver services based on traffic volumes and pedestrian activity. Its National Research Foundation is leading the development of Virtual Singapore, a dynamic 3D city model and collaborative data platform.



Oslo is addressing climate change with the wide use of sensors to control lighting, heating and cooling, with a goal to cut emissions by as much as 95% by 2030, as well as developing a smart grid, with widespread electric vehicle charging technologies.



Connected London is delivering full-fibre connectivity across the city, combining buildings with street assets such as lighting columns and bus stops to create a comprehensive grid of smart sensors and charging points. Small mobile transmitters for 5G are also being deployed to deliver citywide improvements to connectivity and future growth.
https://www.civilengineering.ai/connectivity-the-fundamental-ingredient-of-a-successful-smart-city/
READ MORE

Campus testbeds pilot smart city solutions to climate threats

November 23, 2021
•

Campus testbeds pilot smart city solutions to climate threats -- GCNThe recent uptick of natural disasters in the Pacific Northwest is pushing researchers at Portland State University’s Digital City Testbed Center (DCTC) to explore ways to raise the public’s awareness about environmental threats. However, between communities that are distrustful of urban digital technologies and startups’ innovations that never gain traction, many tech-based solutions for increasing awareness of local and global problems are never deployed.



“The analogy that we've been drawing is with the COVID-19 vaccine,” DCTC Director Jonathan Fink said. “You have this miraculous technology, but it's not able to realize its potential because so many people have concerns about it and are reluctant to use it,” he said. “There's a similar issue in terms of climate change, particularly in cities where there are technologies that can help mitigate some of the effects.”



To make it easier to evaluate smart city technology, DCTC is building a network of campus testbeds where promising applications can be piloted to evaluate their reception and effectiveness. The campuses offer the advantage of being similar to, but smaller than, municipalities, enabling them to make faster decisions than cities. The testbeds give researchers the opportunity to study various applications, their interoperability and data privacy and governance issues.
https://www.civilengineering.ai/campus-testbeds-pilot-smart-city-solutions-to-climate-threats/
READ MORE

Harnessing the power of data to execute the connected passenger journey

November 23, 2021
•

Harnessing the power of data to execute the connected passenger journeyData has the ability to revolutionise how operations and maintenance affect the rail industry – but only if it is utilised effectively. Nomad Digital sat down with Pedro Conceicao to discuss this further and to consider how collecting the correct data can impact the passenger experience.



In an industry where large amounts of data are collected from multiple sources, it is important that it is being utilised effectively. Nomad Digital works with rail operators to ensure that they have the key tools to enhance data efficiently and execute the connected journey.



For this article, Nomad Digital sat down with Pedro Conceicao (CBM Technical Sales Consultant) to understand how collecting the correct data can impact the rail operator and the passenger experience.



How is data evolving and influencing the rail industry?

Data is used to improve the efficiency of the railway system. It is all about balancing the investment and the benefits in operations, maintenance and asset monitoring. For example, over-maintaining trains could effectively be replacing or fixing a piece of equipment or system which doesn’t require attention for another few months or thousands of miles. This will help to reduce the cost of maintenance. It is also allowing operators to better understand the real status of the assets, delivering information that enables better planning and, with it, improves the performance, availability and reliability of rail assets – further reducing cost and generating more revenue. Data is influencing the rail operator’s decision making, as it provides an insight into how they can improve and increase passenger satisfaction.



What data do rail operators need?

It varies depending on what the rail operator’s core business is, as there are multiple factors which need to be considered – i.e., future business goals, priorities and performance requirements, in addition to operational, environmental and legal constraints.



For a passenger service operator, high priority data sources will, for example, be the functionality of the doors, air conditioning and toilets etc, and if any of these systems were to fail, it would have a greater impact on the passenger experience.



To give an example, let’s say that the same train type is deployed in Portugal and Finland. The heating system performance is almost irrelevant on the train that runs in Portugal; however, for the same train, the heating is extremely important in Finland, where temperatures reach below -40 degrees. The national and environmental constraints in Finland require that heating is a high priority for the safety of the passengers. There is not a ‘one size fits all solution’.



Data is just as important to freight. Ensuring the availability of assets is critical, and understanding the user’s needs and problems help operators to understand which systems might have a higher impact and likelihood on the train operation and maintenance and/ or cancellation of the service. Having the correct tailored data and analysing it effectively can be crucial.



How is Remote Online Condition Monitoring (ROCM) revolutionising rail maintenance and operations?

There are many ways that the data made available by ROCM can be used as relevant information to leverage maintenance and operations performance, and these two key areas of activity work hand in hand with each other. Operations and maintenance’s performance are central to the business. For that reason, asset usage optimisation is key: do better and do more with the assets that you have. Proper use of asset data can help to identify inefficiencies and improvement opportunities and drive the performance delivered.
https://www.civilengineering.ai/harnessing-the-power-of-data-to-execute-the-connected-passenger-journey/
READ MORE

FlixMobility to build Europe’s first long-distance hydrogen bus

November 23, 2021
•

FlixMobility to build Europe’s first long-distance hydrogen busFlixMobility will work with its partners to develop, test and launch hydrogen buses that can operate across long distances as part of its efforts to decarbonise transport.



FlixMobility has announced that, with its partners Freudenberg Fuel Cell e-Power Systems and ZF Friedrichshafen AG, it has begun the HyFleet research project, which will focus on the development of a high-performance fuel cell system for long-distance buses, in order to bring sustainable and CO2-free mobility to life.



Upon development of this technology, FlixMobility plans to test and launch fuel cell powered buses in long-distance traffic until 2024 in Europe as part of efforts to set new standards. The climate non-governmental organisation (NGO), atmosfair, is involved as an associated partner, and a European bus manufacturer will also join the project in the future.



The project consortium has received official ‘UIA’ (a non-binding letter of intent) confirmation from the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure.



André Schwämmlein, Founder and CEO of FlixMobility, said: “We are proud to be part of the HyFleet project to develop the first fuel cell-powered long-distance bus in Europe until 2024, together with Freudenberg and ZF. Fuel cell power technology is part of the green mobility revolution and gives bus producers the chance to shape the future of sustainable mobility. With this project, we continue our path of providing millions of people sustainable and affordable mobility. We are fully in line with the carbon neutrality objective of the and Germany and are ready to deliver. It’s great to see that the German government acknowledges the need for the transport sector to speed up its decarbonisation and is ready to support collective transport on this road.”
https://www.civilengineering.ai/flixmobility-to-build-europes-first-long-distance-hydrogen-bus/
READ MORE

Robust recovery in civil construction anticipated

November 22, 2021
•

Robust recovery in civil construction anticipatedThere is hope of a robust recovery in civil construction if the government can follow through on its ambitious plans to invest in large scale civil projects and incentivise the private sector, says construction market intelligence firm Industry Insight.



However, Industry Insight said the non-residential construction segment is expected to come under increased pressure over the next 12 to 18 months because of big cuts to public sector spending and a severe lack of demand for commercial buildings with excess supply.



In addition, there has not been any evidence of any sustainable bounce back in investment in the residential housing market this year and data from this segment has been much worse than expected, Industry Insight said in its latest SA Construction Industry Forecast Report.



The civil construction industry seems to be emerging from the ashes and has finally reached a turning point “from absolute rock bottom levels”, it said.



Caveats



“This statement does however come with several caveats, as the robust tender activity we are seeing is not exactly translating into awarded contracts at the pace we would like, with extremely disappointing data so far this year.”
https://www.civilengineering.ai/robust-recovery-in-civil-construction-anticipated/
READ MORE

Earth Observatory of Singapore – Remote Sensing Lab

November 22, 2021
•
Earth Observatory of Singapore – Remote Sensing Lab
Earth Observatory of Singapore – Remote Sensing LabWe support stakeholders and decision-makers by monitoring and mapping hazards and disasters, environmental crises, sea-level rise, and climate change using cutting-edge technology in remote sensing (e.g. SAR, LiDAR, optical). We will drive scientific innovation and improved understanding of hazards through the development of new algorithms and systems and through symbiotic collaboration with global partners.



Latest Publications



Stephenson, Oliver L., Tobias Köhne, Eric Zhan, Brent E. Cahill, Sang-Ho Yun, Zachary E. Ross, and Mark Simons. "Deep Learning-Based Damage Mapping With InSAR Coherence Time Series." IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing (2021): 1-17.

Tay, Cheryl W. J., Sang-Ho Yun, Shi Tong Chin, Alok Bhardwaj, Jungkyo Jung, and Emma M. Hill. "Rapid flood and damage mapping using synthetic aperture radar in response to Typhoon Hagibis, Japan." Scientific Data 7, no. 1 (2020).

Salman, Rino, Eric O. Lindsey, Karen H. Lythgoe, Kyle E. Bradley, Muzli Muzli, Sang-Ho Yun, Shi Tong Chin, Cheryl W. J. Tay, Fidel Costa, Shengji Wei et al. "Cascading Partial Rupture of the Flores Thrust during the 2018 Lombok Earthquake Sequence, Indonesia." Seismological Research Letters (2020).

Loos, Sabine, David Lallemant, Jack Baker, Jamie W. McCaughey, Sang-Ho Yun, Nama Budhathoki, Feroz Khan, and Ritika Singh. "G-DIF: A geospatial data integration framework to rapidly estimate post-earthquake damage." Earthquake Spectra (2020).
https://www.civilengineering.ai/earth-observatory-of-singapore-remote-sensing-lab/
READ MORE

'Smart care’ hospital for elderly coming to Tainan

November 22, 2021
•
'Smart care’ hospital for elderly coming to Tainan
‘Smart care’ hospital for elderly coming to TainanConstruction for a hospital offering “smart care” for the elderly, the first medical center to offer such services, has begun at Tainan’s National Cheng Kung University (NCKU).



The building, expected to be 12 stories tall with an additional five levels underground, was designed by Bio-Architecture Formosana founder Chang Ching-hua (張清華) and is to be completed by 2025.



In addition to being the first medical facility to offer smart care services to the elderly, the building will also boast of being Taiwan’s first green building for medical use.



The building’s interior design seeks to emulate the meandering alley and paths of Tainan city, and the individual rooms, such as sunrooms or other chambers, are to emulate the traditional Minnan-styled buildings in the city.



GREEN SCHEME



Chang and her architecture firm are well-known for constructing “green buildings,” including the Beitou Library, and for designing for Shalun’s Green Energy Science Park.



Both buildings share great renown as “green buildings” and are also favorite photo landmarks for tourists and visitors.



The hospital’s design and color scheme are intended to help visitors to forget that the establishment is a hospital and feel that they are a part of the local community, Chang said.



Maintaining a bright, light-filled environment filled with greenery can serve to lighten the patients’ mood and facilitate their recovery, she said.



The hospital is being constructed at the intersection of Dongfong and Linsen roads, near a park in Tainan renowned for its “golden shower” trees. Directly across from the area is Siaodong Park.



Each floor will ensure that all levels have ample sunlight and gardens for the patients to walk through, Chang said, adding that this would also afford patients with fantastic views of the nearby area.



The hospital has also designed spaces around nursing stations for patients to socialize and interact with each other to relieve pressure, she said.



NCKU president Su Huey-jen (蘇慧真) said the hospital hopes to collaborate with schools and colleges within the university, and work with the Tainan Science Park to provide a greater quality of care for the elderly.



The hospital also hopes to facilitate the integration of smart medicine in the region and contribute to the government’s “Greater South” initiative, as well as becoming a model center for the development of smart medicine.



MAKING USERS HAPPY



Born and raised in Tainan, Chang said she was intimately aware of how Tainan’s unique culture had furthered her creativity.



“The university had taught me how to express my ideas on paper, how to care for the clients and to embrace nature in my design,” Chang said.



When she sees people’s expressions of happiness, amazement, or feelings of being honored to live or spend time in her buildings, she feels motivated and encouraged in her work, Chang said.



Having designed multiple buildings of renown to date, Chang said that each assignment is a new experience, as some jobs are ones that an architect might only have once in a lifetime, citing the High Court and the Taichung Arena as two examples.



These buildings take years, even decades, to complete, she added.



When asked what work she had completed that she was the most satisfied with, Chang said: “It will always be the next one.”



The NCKU will launch its 90th anniversary celebrations starting this month.
https://www.civilengineering.ai/smart-care-hospital-for-elderly-coming-to-tainan/
READ MORE

Australian researchers develop X-ray vision for cars

November 22, 2021
•

Australian researchers develop X-ray vision for carsAustralian researchers have developed a promising new technology that could help autonomous vehicles track pedestrians hidden and cyclists obscured by buildings, cars, trucks and buses.



The University of Sydney’s Australian Centre for Field Robotics and Australian connected vehicle solutions company Cohda Wireless developed the technology that uses X-ray style vision to penetrate through to blind spots.



The technique, known as cooperative or collective perception, uses roadside ITS information sharing units equipped with cameras and lidar to allow vehicles to ‘see’ what other vehicles are ‘seeing’ using vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications.



The project received funding from the iMOVE Cooperative Research Centre. Codha is commercialising the technology for intelligent transport system applications.



During a successful demonstration, the system was able to take pre-emptive action by braking and stopping before a pedestrian rushed onto the road, based on the pedestrian’s predicted movement.



Professor Eduardo Nebot from the Australian Centre for Field Robotics said the technology could benefit all vehicles, not just those connected to the system.



“This is a game changer for both human-operated and autonomous vehicles which we hope will substantially improve the efficiency and safety of road transportation,” he said.



“The connected vehicle was able to track a pedestrian visually obstructed by a building with CP information. This was achieved seconds before its local perception sensors or the driver could possibly see the same pedestrian around the corner, providing extra time for the driver or the navigation stack to react to this safety hazard.”
https://www.civilengineering.ai/australian-researchers-develop-x-ray-vision-for-cars/
READ MORE

Shanghai's new ICV opening excites innovators

November 21, 2021
•

Shanghai’s new ICV opening excites innovatorsThe first Intelligent Traffic Forum (Shanghai) and the Founding Congress of Shanghai Technical Committee for Standardization of Intelligent Transportation was held at the National Exhibition and Convention Center on Sunday during the fourth China International Import Expo.



Innovators of intelligent connected vehicles (ICVs) will be able to test their technology in more Shanghai streets starting now, the city's transport commission announced on Sunday at a forum during the fourth China International Import Expo.



With the entire Jiading New City and the Lingang New Area open for testing, Shanghai now has a total of 615 streets about 1,290 kilometers in length for the purpose, leading all Chinese cities.



Half of the kilometers are located in Jiading District, with another 540 kilometers in Lingang, including 34 kilometers of Donghai Bridge. The rest are located in Fengxian District and other parts of the Pudong New Area.



In Lingang new area, the opening of the part of Lianggang Avenue from Xinsiping Highway to the intersection at Laogang Seedling Base, 28.4 kilometers in length, marks the beginning of ICV tests on the city's urban expressways.



With the opening of the new streets to ICV tests, innovators will find more than 7,000 new testing areas, the commission said.



The commission also launched a new policy guide in ICV development which prioritizes the ICV application in seven fields, including smart taxi, smart public transportation, smart logistics, unmanned sales points, driverless delivery, sightseeing services and unmanned street cleaning.



Businesses are encouraged to look for solutions for the above goals and work towards the commercialization of ICVs in those fields.



Wang Dajun, vice director of the technology information department of the Shanghai Transport Commission, said the seven fields were chosen because they are most related to the daily lives of residents and have the largest potential for commercialization.



Lu Feng, director of the transport commission in Jiading District, said the district aims for further systematization of the standards in intelligent traffic development this year. Beyond that the development of driverless programs under 5G, the intelligent network and the smart road infrastructure.



"Companies based in our district will actively take part in the research and development of smart taxi, public transportation and freight logistics to provide more intelligent travelling choices for residents," she said.



Lu revealed that the district will strive to open in entirety to ICV testing next year.



Jiang Jian, vice president, communication, at Bosch (China) Investment Co, said the company, as a global leader in intelligent driving solutions welcomes the new opening of ICV testing in Shanghai.



"In terms of the traffic infrastructure and support from the government in the development of ICV and CVIS (cooperative vehicle infrastructure system), China is a leading country in the world, but the new transport frontiers also require a lot of trials and room for new technology," he said.



"The new opening effort from Shanghai enables us to further hone our technology in this regard."



Fan Xiaoxu, vice general manager of the Shanghai branch of TuSimple, an international self-driving freight trucking solution provider, said the new opening is a boost to the company's business in China.



The company was the first in China to acquire a license to road test self-driving trucks back in 2019. Its test trucks have run more than 1 million kilometers over Donghai Bridge in Yangshan Port.



"Next up we will further explore the piloting of our trucks with no presence of drivers, under the new policy rule from the government at the end of last month, and will gradually start to transport goods with the trucks," she said.



"Shanghai government is supportive of our business section with open-mindedness and a thoughtful policy framework."
https://www.civilengineering.ai/shanghais-new-icv-opening-excites-innovators/
READ MORE

Meta AI Introduces ReSkin (A Touch-Sensing “Skin” For AI Tactile Perception Research) Along With A Python Sensor Library To Interface With ReSkin Sensors

November 21, 2021
•

Meta AI Introduces ReSkin (A Touch-Sensing “Skin” For AI Tactile Perception Research) Along With A Python Sensor Library To Interface With ReSkin SensorsOur sense of touch helps us gather information about our surroundings to accomplish our everyday tasks. Despite current advancements in AI research that incorporates vision and sound, touch remains a challenge. This is due to the fact that tactile-sensing data is hard to come by in the outdoors.



To help researchers advance their AI’s tactile-sensing skills rapidly and at scale, a recent Facebook research in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University introduces ReSkin, a new open-source touch-sensing “skin.” ReSkin is a low-cost, adaptable, resilient, and replaceable long-term solution that takes advantage of machine learning and magnetic sensing developments. It uses a self-supervised learning technique to auto-calibrate the sensor, allowing it to be generalized and share data between sensors and systems.



ReSkin is a low-cost product, with 100 units costing less than $6 each and larger volumes costing considerably less. It’s 2-3 mm thick and has a temporal resolution of up to 400Hz and a spatial resolution of 1 mm with 90% accuracy, allowing it to handle more than 50,000 interactions. These specs make it suitable for a wide range of form factors, including robot hands, arm sleeves, tactile gloves, and more. For quick manipulation tasks like slipping, tossing, catching, and clapping, ReSkin can also give high-frequency three-axis tactile signals. Furthermore, it can be easily stripped off and replaced when it wears out.
https://www.civilengineering.ai/meta-ai-introduces-reskin-a-touch-sensing-skin-for-ai-tactile-perception-research-along-with-a-python-sensor-library-to-interface-with-reskin-sensors/
READ MORE

How Can Digital Twin Earth Help in Saving the World? ESA Develops an Advanced Model to Address Problems Caused by Climate Change

November 21, 2021
•

How Can Digital Twin Earth Help in Saving the World? ESA Develops an Advanced Model to Address Problems Caused by Climate ChangeThe European Space Agency (ESA) is currently developing the Digital Twin Earth, an advanced model that will help scientists better model the future of Earth and eventually solve the problems brought by climate change.



As specified in a Scientific American report a digital replica of Earth could help scientists in dealing with climate change. The ESA is developing the innovative model together with its partners based on data and images captured through Earth-observations satellites and sensors installed on the ground.



To run the digital replica's reliability, this project will necessitate new advanced artificial algorithms and powerful supercomputers, which are presently under development.



ESA and its alliances discussed the project's progress during the UN Climate Change Conference COP26, a two-week event that's presently going on in Glasgow, Scotland.



ALSO READ: Antarctic Ice Sheet's Rising Sea Levels Could Be 'Countered' by Snowfall Induced Through Warming Ocean of Northern Hemisphere
https://www.civilengineering.ai/how-can-digital-twin-earth-help-in-saving-the-world-esa-develops-an-advanced-model-to-address-problems-caused-by-climate-change/
READ MORE

GelSight Partners With Meta AI To Democratize Digital Tactile Sensing

November 21, 2021
•
GelSight Partners With Meta AI To Democratize Digital Tactile Sensing
GelSight Partners With Meta AI To Democratize Digital Tactile SensingGelSight will commercially manufacture the DIGIT sensor to increase access and enable new tactile applications in robotics and beyond

GelSight, a pioneer in tactile imaging and sensing technology announced a partnership with Meta AI to commercially manufacture the DIGIT tactile sensor and expand the field of tactile sensing research.



Top Crypto News: “Bitcoin Has No Intrinsic Value”. Then What Gives Bitcoin Value?



DIGIT is a reliable, low-cost, compact, high-resolution tactile sensor designed for robotic in-hand manipulation designed and open-sourced in 2020 by Meta (then Facebook) AI researchers to enable AI and robotics researchers to work with touch. GelSight will manufacture and sell DIGIT as part of the company’s offering of digital tactile sensors, making this sensor even more accessible to the global research community.



While other human senses such as sight and hearing have already been replicated in robotic applications, touch is the next sense that will be digitized to enable robots to perform tasks they were previously unable to do. GelSight develops and sells technology for digital tactile sensing with the sensitivity and resolution of human touch. The company offers unique elastomeric and imaging-based tactile sensing technology that also enables robotic engineers to develop solutions for complex object manipulation and many other dexterous tasks.
https://www.civilengineering.ai/gelsight-partners-with-meta-ai-to-democratize-digital-tactile-sensing-2/
READ MORE
Subscribe to: Posts ( Atom )
 
Copyright © Ai4civilengineering