Call for projects for intelligent bridge monitoring

The aging of bridges is leading engineers to "think differently" about their maintenance, explained the National Agency for the cohesion of territories and Cerema in a press release.

"To ensure the monitoring of these works, the latest innovations in instrumentation, telecommunications, data processing and artificial intelligence offer significant potential in addition to conventional methods of visual inspections", they noted.

Research centers and companies working on "innovative solutions for monitoring and managing structures" have until February 14 to submit their application.

The winners, designated two months later, "will experiment with their full-scale solutions on State or community works", according to the press release.

The government announced on Tuesday an envelope of 40 million euros so that small towns can identify and assess their bridges, some of which are in poor condition, with the assistance of Cerema.

This system aims to support research centers and companies working on innovative solutions for monitoring and managing structures using instrumentation:

• inexpensive systems or methods allowing their wide distribution,
• systems or methods that are not very vulnerable to bad weather or aging, and that are energy efficient,
• systems or methods which contribute to the management of structures according to conventional methods, such as those carried by the ITSEOA (Technical instruction for the supervision and maintenance of structures),
• "certifiable" systems or methods in terms of their performance,
• largely automated anomaly detection methods,
• instrumentation allowing long-term monitoring of structures.