Published Wed 5th Oct 2022
The growing risk of slope failure is a significant challenge that must be managed by those responsible for assets including roads, railways, pipelines and mines. Landslides, rockfalls and washout failures are happening more often due to extreme weather events associated with climate change and they can result in disruption, damage and risk to life. The cost of preventative measures such as extensive slope stabilization, re-grading and drainage improvements is prohibitive in most cases - so the problem has to be managed rather than removed.
In response to these challenges, Senceive engineers have worked with asset owners to develop a responsive wireless monitoring solution to detect sudden ground movement due to loss of slope stability. In use since 2018, more than 10,000 InfraGuard™ sensors are in use today - helping to protect infrastructure by providing near real-time alerts of landslides, rockfalls, and embankment failures. The system provides continuous monitoring that is:
- simple and quick to install
- precise enough to detect sub-millimeter movement
- robust to operate in all climates, day and night
- responsive to "wake-up" multiple sensors and cameras when triggered by an event and send immediate alerts
- long life to operate for more than a decade with minimal maintenance
- integrated with cameras so you can judge what steps to take without putting boots on the ground
Key applications include the early detection and warning of slope stability failure in remote, high value assets such as:
- transportation - highways and railways
- flood defense - levees and dams
- mining - open pit walls and tailings dams
- energy - pipelines and infrastructure
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As well as providing early warning of slope stability failure, InfraGuardTM can be deployed after an event to monitor ongoing movement. Following a landslide at this site in Washington State the monitoring solution enabled engineers to keep the highway open for several months before remedial work could be undertaken. |
Unlike other systems, InfraGuard™ enables early identification of small movements that can indicate the first signs of a problem, as well as near real-time detection of sudden movement. Up to four alert levels can be configured based on the extent of ground movement and loss of slope stability detected.
A typical InfraGuard™ system comprises tilt sensor nodes and cameras communicating via a solar-powered cellular Gateway. The ability to check the validity of alerts by viewing photographic images helps users to significantly reduce the risk of false alerts. Furthermore, this reduces the number of site visits, bringing benefits in terms of time usage, carbon footprint and safety.
Senceive wireless technology has been engineered to deliver ultra-long-life with minimal maintenance. This is built on the ability to switch from a low power consumption mode, where reports are sent on a timed basis (e.g. at 30 minute intervals), to a high frequency mode where sensor activity is automatically accelerated to send data on a near continuous basis. This dynamic sampling provides stakeholders with a high level of confidence that they will be notified of shallow ground movement and loss of slope stability, together with an instant view of potential problems, all without visiting site.
The InfraGuard system from Senceive not only provides reliable, responsive monitoring for remote sites, but delivers cost savings of up to 80% in comparison with conventional repeated surveys, visual inspections, and associated mobilization costs.
