Data collected by mobile phones could be used to assess the structural integrity of bridges, suggests a new study. Using the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco as an example, researchers showed that phones can capture the same kind of information about bridge vibrations picked up by stationary sensors. The engineers estimate that, depending on the age of a road bridge, mobile monitoring could add between 15 and 30 percent more years to its lifespan.
“The core finding is that information about structural health of bridges can be extracted from smartphone-collected accelerometer data,” said professor Carlo Ratti, an architect at MIT, while summarizing the study.
