Semtech LoRa Intelligent Technology Helps Bolixin Improve Building Structural Safety Monitoring Capabilities

my country has a vast territory and a diverse and complex geological structure, which has brought about various geological disasters. With the rapid development of urban and rural areas, a large number of old buildings in the fields of residential housing and general construction are becoming increasingly obsolete, resulting in building hazard accidents year after year.

For example, the collapse of a residential building in Shenzhen, Guangdong, the collapse of a highway bridge in Wuxi, Jiangsu, and the abnormal shaking of the Humen Bridge in Guangdong have seriously endangered the safety of people's lives and property, or caused a huge impact on society. The structural safety of buildings is of great importance and has become the focus of attention of the government and the public.

It is inevitable to use the Internet of Things and intelligent means to monitor residential houses, general buildings and transportation facilities, and LoRa's low power consumption, long distance and flexibility have become one of the best communication methods for such Internet of Things applications. By adopting LoRa+ sensors and professional analysis systems and software, LoRa ecosystem partners such as Bolixin provide complete security monitoring solutions in related fields. 

On October 8, 2019, the Ministry of Justice of the People's Republic of China issued the "Regulations on Earthquake Resistance Management of Construction Projects (Draft for Comments)". In Chapter 3 of this document, regarding the appraisal, reinforcement and maintenance of the seismic performance of buildings, it is clearly proposed to establish a system for the appraisal of the seismic performance of construction projects, and stipulates that safety monitoring should be carried out on construction projects with serious seismic safety hazards, and measures such as stopping or restricting use should be taken before reinforcement.

On July 20, 2020, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Guiding Opinions on Comprehensively Promoting the Renovation of Old Urban Communities". The document clearly stated: In 2020, 39,000 old urban communities will be newly started and renovated, involving nearly 7 million households; by the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan period (the end of 2025), based on the actual conditions of various regions, we will strive to basically complete the renovation of old urban communities built before the end of 2000.

Recently, relevant regulatory authorities have conducted timely management, launched bidding for dangerous building monitoring professional matters, and carried out large-scale, multi-level dangerous building assessments in accordance with national standards. In the fields of safety monitoring and management of large buildings such as transportation facilities and public facilities, the monitoring standards and requirements for bridges, tunnels and dams are also being continuously implemented and improved.

As a leading supplier of "sensor+" IoT technologies, services, products and end-to-end solutions based on cross-border and model innovation, Bolixun has extensive experience in the field of building structural safety. Dangerous buildings with safety hazards are one of Bolixun's key markets, and old residential buildings are the most important application scenarios for domestic building structure monitoring.

To solve many problems in traditional solutions, Bolixin launched a LoRa®-based building structure safety monitoring scenario. In the building structure monitoring scenario, the LoRa smart IoT terminal reports data once an hour to monitor the cracks and tilt of the building structure all year round (see the following figures: Tilt monitoring terminal installation diagram - Figure 1, crack monitoring terminal installation diagram - Figure 2).

Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the installation of the tilt sensor

Figure 2 Schematic diagram of crack displacement sensor installation

The smart terminals in each building transmit data through the LoRa gateway and report monitoring data to the Bolixin data center via 4G uplink. The data center's iView IoT data management and control platform filters and records valid data and converts application descriptions that meet national standards. It uses a multi-level alarm early warning mechanism, client presentation, and APP display to produce monitoring data every month, providing a strong basis for the next stage of decision-making by the regulatory authorities.

Compared with traditional solutions, this solution uses IoT technology to transmit the data collected by smart IoT terminals to the IoT standard PaaS platform through LoRa low-power wireless communication through sensing, transmission, knowledge and use, and then use it according to needs. This solves the problems of installation and routing, power supply methods, equipment information islands, and difficulties in data display and call in traditional solutions.

The solution has the following features:

Low cost: low infrastructure and operating costs.

Low power consumption: LoRa communication makes battery power possible, which can support the normal operation of the terminal for 3-5 years.

Long distance: LoRa communication signal transmission distance can reach 2-3 kilometers in the city.

Wide coverage: A single LoRa gateway can carry tens of thousands of smart terminals.

"Polysin's extensive experience in building structural safety, combined with LoRa Technology's proven capabilities in IoT, makes it a perfect match for smart solutions," said Wu Yunqiao, CEO of Polysin Technologies. "Old non-IoT solutions are not only extremely costly but also difficult to maintain for building structural safety monitoring. LoRa Technology's real-time data can provide timely data feedback and early warning when a building undergoes structural changes. Since 2017, Polysin's solutions have been successfully deployed on a large scale overseas and in provinces such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Guangdong."

Bolixin's intelligent detection solution is also a positive response to the country's new infrastructure plan. By using IoT technology, the safety and integrity of building structures can be monitored in real time and remotely. In addition to being used for structural safety monitoring of general buildings, Bolixin and other LoRa ecosystem members' LoRa+sensor+monitoring system solutions can also be used to monitor facilities such as bridges, tunnels, road slopes and dams, and can drive the application of high-precision Beidou and other GNSS equipment, which has significant social benefits. 

“We are pleased to see Polysense launch a LoRa-based intelligent building structure safety monitoring solution to protect people’s lives and property,” said Huang Xudong, Vice President of Sales for Semtech China. “As a leading IoT technology, LoRa can provide flexible, easy-to-use, low-power and wide-coverage connections for various facilities, and can be perfectly integrated with domestic independent technologies such as Beidou high-precision. Semtech will work together with LoRa ecosystem partners to help build safer buildings and cities through the use of IoT and smart technologies.”