This document outlines a framework for structural health and water infrastructure monitoring in smart cities. Key points include: 1) The framework uses an embedded multi-sensor system with wireless telemetry to monitor bridges and detect structural issues in real-time, reducing costs compared to traditional intermittent inspection. 2) A similar approach can monitor water distribution infrastructure for leaks, quality issues, and unauthorized use or pollution. 3) The model involves edge sensors, data analytics platforms, and APIs to support applications that improve regulatory enforcement, incentivize compliance, and engage citizens in infrastructure monitoring.

1. Framework for Smart Cities
Prof. R V Kolhe
Assistant Professor
Department of Civil Engineering
Sanjivani College of Engineering, Kopargaon

2. IoT Use Cases in Smart City
Infrastructure
2
• Smart energy grid
• Smart water grid
• Structural health
• Transportation
• Asset tracking/management

3. Structural Health Monitoring
(SHM)
3

4. Many Unsafe Bridges
4
• More than 700K bridges in US
• 1 in 5 is unsafe or structurally obsolete
• Only inspected once in 1-2 years
• Often takes an accident to get attention
– I-5 Skagit River Bridge (Washington, 2013)
– I-35W Mississippi River Bridge (Minnesota, 2007)

5. Why Not Real-Time Monitoring?
5
• Expensive instrumentation
• Expensive cabling for data telemetry
• Expensive cabling for power supply
• Large amount of data
• >US$200,000 per site

6. Technical Aspect of SHM
6
• Time domain data from many dynamic sensors
• Real-time frequency domain analysis is compute
intensive
• Transmission of data needs high bandwidth and
storage capacity
• High reliability requirement
• Model update, when needed, is very compute
intensive

7. Business Aspect of SHM
7
• High organizational inertia
• Each structure is different
– System needs to be flexible
– Different sensor combinations
– Interested in different events
• Require an efficient framework
– Support customized hardware
– Customized analysis
– Up front deployment + ongoing analysis

8. What We Had Done
8
• Embedded multi-sensor system
• Precision synchronization
• Rolling backup on device
• On-device data processing and compression to
reduce bandwidth requirement
• Flexible Wireless telemetry
• Could operate on harvested solar energy
• Data repository/analysis on cloud
→ Much lower cost of ownership

9. How to Value a Safe Bridge?
9
Antennae
Main chassis
(Inclinometers
Accelerometers)
Much lower cost
→ Wider deployment
→ Safer public infrastructure
Temperature sensor
Water Velocity Water Level
sensor sensor

10. Need for Quantitative and
Qualitative Monitoring of Water
10
• Water distribution infrastructure
• Quantitative – 30% lost through pipeline
• Qualitative – contamination
• Water quality in source water bodies
• Effective water use
• Residential, commercial, industrial,
agricultural/landscape
• Pollution detection/regulatory enforcement
• Wastewater management

11. Benefits of Water Infrastructure
Monitoring
11
• 2.3 million miles of distribution system pipes in
US, most near end of lifespan
• Contamination due to biofilm growth, nitrification,
leaching, internal corrosion, scale formation, etc.
• Increasing concern over intentional sabotage

12. • Agricultural Waste Water
 Pollute source water and underground water with
pesticides and nutrients
 Infrequent monitoring/reporting is ineffective in
protecting public
• Industrial Waster Water
 Contain various industrial pollutants
 Oversight agencies can't afford the labor and
equipment to ensure compliance
• Example (Washington Post 2008-09-22)
– Maryland has 132 inspectors to cover 205,000 sites -
“not even close to adequate”
12
Inability to Enforce Regulations
Without Real-Time Monitoring

13. • Citywide sensor network for water monitoring
– Infrastructure integrity
– Quality assurance
– Usage accounting
– Pollution Detection
• Different sensors on common platform
– Efficiency from sharing platform across multiple
applications
13
Our Model: Smart Water Grid
Edge Sensors

14. • Sensor network management/maintenance
• Data repository
• Data analytics
– Event detection
– Event response workflow
– Cause/effect identification
• Open API
– Enable many mobile/desktop/web applications
14
Our Model: Smart Water Grid
Web Services

15. Example: Water Quality Credit Trading
• Economic incentive for compliance and reuse.
• Wider adoption will require common monitoring
framework.
15
Monitoring Enables Carrots and
Sticks

16. Webservices
Analytics
Event Management
API
Public/Private Networks
Water Grid
• Electrochemical
• Optical
• Submeters
• Water level
• Water velocity
Transportation
• Traffic flow
• Parking
• Access control
• Emission control
• Licensing
16
Civil Structures
• Vibration
• Tilt
Energy Grid
• Submeters
Our Model: A Common Smart
Sensor Framework

17. • Challenges
 Difficult to confirm event against fluctuating
background using few parameters
• False alarms cause panic, reduce credibility
 Example: Water quality fluctuates due to operational
controls, daily and seasonal variations
• Statistical analysis
– Reduce false-positives
– Recognize known patterns
17
Event Detection & Analysis

18. Incident /Event management
• Event verification protocol
• Notify first responders, officials, citizens
• How is it similar/different from previous
• Event tracking from detection through resolution
Knowledge Management
• Assess event management effectiveness
• Statistics of event type and resolution tactic/strategy
• Knowledge improves handling future events
18
Work Flow

19. Citizen Access
19
• Issue reporting/verification
• Smart phones are effective distributed sensors
• Turn service consumers into service providers
• Status of known issues
• Solution of past issues
• Process improvement
• Quantity benefit
• Access performance of city management

20. Conclusion
20
• Technology still evolving fast
• Modular design
• Loosely-coupled components
• Integrated by open protocol
• Parts could be changed over time
• Data, data everywhere
• Mostly routine non-eventful data
• Detecting meaningful events
• Work flow to manage events
• Good API design is critical in effective use and
continued evolution of this infrastructure

21. goodXense Framework
• Built on sails.js – a real-time MVC framework
• RESTful API already familiar to web developers
• Front-end agnostic
• Smart sensors using different protocols
• Web browsers and mobile apps for human
• Supports many databases
• Extendable interface to various IoT protocols
• Under preparation for open source
• Welcome interested collaborators
info@goodxense.com
21