ViewPoint
Project Brief
Create an innovative connected technology solution using Comcast's city wide IoT platform, MachineQ.
This project won the Comcast-Pennovation MachineQ Challenge.
Project Summary
Roles: Problem Definition, User Research, Design
Timeline: 6 month project
Team Members: Chelsea Meyers, Grace Moore, Jono Sanders, Evan Oskierko-Jeznacki
Problem
How might we use Comcast's city wide IoT network, MachineQ, to address the infrastructure issues in the United States?
Serious infrastructure deterioration is caused by increased traffic volume + weight, heavy salt use, and lack of regular maintenance
The bridge deck is the first to show decay, but this deterioration is not often visible until it is too late
Visual inspection is limited by its subjective nature and infrequency
Municipal staffing is less robust due to changes in depth of experience and shrinking department sizes
Research
bridge deck decay
Construction since the 19th century has employed steel reinforcement, called rebar, cast into the concrete to carry tensile loads. Made from unfinished, untempered steel, rebar is susceptible to rusting which can cause the rebar to expand to 4 times its size. This results is cracking, spalling and ultimately structural failure of the surrounding concrete.
Each day, over 31 million vehicles travel across Philadelphia’s 1000+ bridges
“When [bridge decks] start to go, they suddenly get soft. We don’t know it until we find a pothole. We go to repair that pothole and say ‘Gee, this keeps growing…’”
Stakeholders
Bridge owners, developers, federal and local government are key stakeholders responsible for bridge monitoring and maintenance, and they bring numerous secondary stakeholders to ensure our infrastructure is safe. Ultimately, their decisions impact the ability of everyday users getting from point A to point B.
Solution
ViewPoint
A low-cost, connected device to help bridge owners prioritize maintenance using real-time diagnostic data. Viewpoint simplifies structural health monitoring and highlights issues earlier and with greater reliability. Viewpoint utilizes the MachineQ network to relay its data aggregation back to a centralized location. This data is then parsed through a web app making it easy to understand the current physical state of infrastructure and help predict future issues before they happen.
REAL-TIME DATA allows bridge owners to track and comprehend changes in bridge health
PLUG AND PLAY SENSORS eliminate the middle-man, lowering costs and empowering municipalities
An INTUITIVE INTERFACE eliminates the need for data analysis by a third party
VIEWPOINT’s AGGREGATED DATA helps compile a comprehensive picture of infrastructural health
VIEWPOINT saves municipalities money
By closely monitoring corrosion, bridge owners can detect issues and take preventative actions earlier
