Sydney's Harbour Bridge gets sensor tech

The sensor technology was developed  to continuously monitor the structural integrity of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The sensors were placed under the bus lanes that run along the bridge. They were then activated to detect movements in the concrete deck.

NICTA gathers the data from all of the sensors on the Harbour Bridge. Any concrete movements that are considered abnormal, not caused by the regular movement of traffic along the bridge, are reported back to base.

Roads and Maratime Services asset manager of strategic infrastructure Peter Mann came up with the idea, and the technology was then developed by NICTA.​

The trial has been a success so far, and the technology won two awards at the Australian Information Industry Association NSW iAwards, on Monday night. The two organisations are planning a large scale roll-out of the system in 2013, with thousands of sensors.​