An Italian technology monitors in real time the health of 850 highways bridges, providing for structural problems before it is too late.
While we travel a bridge, we never think that there may be electronic “doctors” at work below us. Yet, on hundreds of Italian bridges, there are sensors that constantly control every slightest movement, vibration or failure. It is the work of Nplus, a Trentino startup that in 8 years has become a world leader in structural monitoring. Instanded in the Mechatronics pole of Rovereto, it develops technologies that have a direct impact on the safety of millions of people. With 50 employees between civil, IT and electronic engineers, and 20 million euros in turnover in 2024, the company has transformed the control of infrastructure into a continuous service, 24 hours a day.
The problem is in numbers. In Italy there are about 21 thousand motorway bridges and viaducts, not to mention the urban and railway ones. Most was built between the 50s and 80s. With the aging of concrete, the increase in traffic and climate change, these structures are subject to growing stress. How much are they really sure?
Shm (Stutctural Health Monitoring) sensors can answer this question: accelerometers and inclhopeds measure vibrations, movements and deformations. Applied discreetly on the bridges, they collect continuous data that analyze artificial intelligence algorithms in real time. Currently Nplus monitors 850 bridges for Anas, as well as infrastructures of the Brenner motorway, A4Autostrada and Lombard Pedemontana motorway.
But it is not only the bridges that benefit from this technology. The Milan Cathedral, for example, uses Nplus sensors to monitor the inclinations of the main pillars. A delicate work that requires millimeter precision to protect one of the artistic masterpieces of Italy.
