“…As it turns out, after commissioning the equipment based optical sensing system and while said system was operating in its normal mode, an accident occurred at the bridge: A loaded barge crashed into one of the pillars of the bridge and got stuck there (lodged in) for a while. The Optical Sensing System’s installed accelerometers immediately triggered the CMS operational software developed for this bridge to orient the standby cameras and begin recording the unfolding events. Even though no-one was present at the bridge during the accident, all structural events were recorded (readings of all the sensors have been saved) and the cameras also recorded the entire event. Officials have been immediately alerted and actions to correct the problem have started immediately thereafter. The civil engineering groups affiliated with government owner of the bridge have been analyzing the data obtained during the event and are gathering invaluable knowledge about the details of what actually happens to a bridge from a structural point of view when such an impact occurs…It is my hope that, upon reading the above and attached communication, everyone to whom this email went out should feel proud of the work they do and the contributions and value they provide through their work for making our world a little better than it was before. We may not always be able to prevent accidents from happening but we can use technology to inform authorities with no delay, to accurately assess the damage, and most of all, to analyze and learn about how to make improvements for future bridges, buildings, and other structures.”
-Andrei Csipkes, Micron Optics