Bentley Systems Announces Strategic Agreement with Worldsensing
Worldsensing Acquires sensemetrics Thread Connectivity Business, While Bentley Becomes Lead Investor in Worldsensing’s Series D Capital Raise, and Both Parties Align on a Unique Joint Go-to-Market Offering
Worldsensing and Bentley Systems (Nasdaq: BSY), the infrastructure engineering software company, have entered into a commercial and strategic agreement. As part of the agreement, Worldsensing has acquired the sensemetrics Thread connectivity business from Bentley Systems. This partnership will strategically accelerate the adoption of Infrastructure IoT, further unlocking value for infrastructure designers, constructors, and owner-operators in their use of infrastructure digital twins. At the same time, Worldsensing has successfully raised €6 million in a Series D investment round, led by Bentley Systems and with participation from McRock Capital, ETF Partners, and Endra Capital.
Remy de Tonnac, Partner with ETF Partners added ” This strategic agreement and investment have the potential to be transformational for Worldsensing. Speaking for the long time supporters of the company McRock, Endra and ETF Partners participating in this funding round, we trust that Worldsensing solutions will keep being deployed worldwide to monitor major infrastructures safety and protect the environment. “
Worldsensing’s acquisition of the sensemetrics Thread connectivity business will expand and complement the company’s product portfolio, offering new options to its customers where adaptive sensor integrations or active sensor management are a key requirement. Thread offers broadband sensor connectivity uniquely to connect dynamic, high-power, or high-speed sensors and stream sensor data to the cloud for analysis. Thread is a fully autonomous sensor connectivity device with optional integrated 4G/LTE cellular modem, wireless mesh networking, and battery pack in a weather resistant enclosure. Each broadband device also serves as a gateway for wireless smart sensors. Combined with Worldsensing’s existing market-leading offerings, Thread will be a driver for new growth opportunities. Worldsensing will become a preferred sensor connectivity partner to Bentley and Bentley will become a preferred IoT
software partner to Worldsensing offering mutual users a best-in-class fully integrated end-to-end sensor management solution.
“We are thrilled to enter into this agreement with Bentley Systems,” said Ignasi Vilajosana, CEO of Worldsensing. “The acquisition of the sensemetrics Thread connectivity business will expand our portfolio and allow us to provide more options to our customers. We are pleased to become a preferred sensor connectivity partner for Bentley iTwin IoT as it confirms our position as the reference connectivity platform for mining, construction, rail, and infrastructure monitoring.”
“We are excited to partner with Worldsensing and believe that this strategic agreement will bring significant benefits to our respective user bases,” said Justin Schmidt, vice president, corporate development with Bentley Systems. “We are confident that the combination of Worldsensing’s expertise in IoT solutions and our leadership in infrastructure digital twin software will create a powerful offering for the market.”
Worldsensing’s Connectivity Devices fully integrated with Bentley’s sensemetrics and iTwin IoT Software
About Worldsensing
Worldsensing is a global IoT pioneer. Founded in 2008, the infrastructure monitoring expert serves customers in more than 70 countries, with a network of global partners to jointly drive safety in mining, construction, rail and structural health.
Worldsensing is headquartered in Barcelona and has a local presence in the UK, North and South America, Singapore, Australia and Poland. Investors include Cisco Systems, Mitsui & Co, McRock Capital, ETF, Kibo Ventures and JME Ventures.
Bentley Systems (Nasdaq: BSY) is the infrastructure engineering software company. We provide innovative software to advance the world’s infrastructure – sustaining both the global economy and environment. Our industry-leading software solutions are used by professionals, and organizations of every size, for the design, construction, and operations of roads and bridges, rail and transit, water and wastewater, public works and utilities, buildings and campuses, mining, and industrial facilities. Our offerings, powered by the iTwin Platform for infrastructure digital twins, include MicroStation and Bentley Open applications for modeling and simulation, Seequent’s software for geoprofessionals, and Bentley Infrastructure Cloud encompassing ProjectWise for project delivery, SYNCHRO for construction management, and AssetWise for asset operations. Bentley Systems’ 5,000 colleagues generate annual revenues of more than $1 billion in 194 countries.
Worldsensing celebrates innovation on PhD Stars Day
Worldsensing gathered on 03 March 2023 at the innovation event PhD Stars Day which took place at the company headquarters in Barcelona
Andrea Bartoli, Worldsensing CTO, welcomed employees highlighting the innovative nature of the IoT company which is constantly focused on creating disruptive technology. “Innovation is the force that drives us and today we are very pleased to have our PhD students presenting to everyone some of the current research they are currently working on”, he explained.
The event showcased posters from four PhD students who are researching different topics within projects for the improvement of IoT networks to monitor underground and structural health infrastructures, as well as achieving more energy-efficient communications.
Professor Xavier Vilajosana, co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) of Worldsensing and full professor at the Computer Science, Telecommunications and Multimedia department at the Open University of Catalonia, said “the capacity to innovate is what makes our company strong and our products competitive. We should be the drivers in our market with key and oriented innovations that create new standards that go beyond what is being solved today.”
Since its foundation, in 2008, Worldsensing has preserved innovation as one of its core values as a leading international technology provider. The company has participated in several innovation projects, mainly within the European Union’s Research and Innovation Programmes (FP6, FP7, H2020, Horizon Europe), as well as other national and regional funding schemes. Worldsensing has also been recognised by the Government of Spain and the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain as an Innovative SME. The Spanish Ministry awards this certification to businesses that have demonstrated a crucial role in advancing an innovation-based productive model.
Spanish companies MTi and Worldsensing meet with Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation, to cooperate on flood monitoring and early prevention system technology transfer
In parallel to the Mobile World Congress, the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDeC), the agency under the Malaysian Ministry of Communications and Digital (KKD), leading the digital transformation of the economy has organized sides events in Barcelona to promote cooperation between Spanish digital companies and Malaysia.
Throughout the day, MDeC has been meeting with a consortium of two Spanish technology firms: MingoThings International, a consulting and intermediary company for technological projects, and Worldsensing, an expert in infrastructure monitoring, to discuss future cooperation on flood monitoring and early prevention system technology transfer.
A forthcoming agreement is expected to be negotiated in the following months.
Mahadir Aziz, MDEC’ CEO commented “A delegation of Malaysian governmental agencies and industry players came to the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to exchange information and discover more about the city’s technological ecosystem, which leads innovation throughout Europe and the world. MingoThings and Worldsensing are among the companies that enable this innovation, especially in terms of technology for security.”
A future cooperation on technology transfer of flood monitoring and early prevention systems
The purpose of this collaboration is to promote mutual understanding and support in research, training, consultation, technology transfer, investment, and strategic development to develop the system of flood prevention and monitoring of floods in Malaysia. This mutual aid can be concretized through technology transfer programs, staff and faculty exchanges, and data and project exchanges.
A close collaboration between Malaysia and the Spanish and Catalan digital ecosystem
The Malaysian Ministry of Communication & Digital’s aspiration is to firmly establish Malaysia as ‘the Heart of Digital ASEAN’, a regional digital powerhouse launching global champions to lead the fourth industrial revolution. To this end, the Ministry is present at MWC 23 to meet with several Spanish companies and big names in tech.
On February 28th, the MDeC organized a round table with about fifteen companies to discuss making Kuala Lumpur a technology and digital hub in Asia. Among the companies present were many Catalan digital flagships, including MMM, Mediktor, Tech Barcelona, Etra, MingoThings, Worldsensing and some governmental entities as ACCIO.
The day will then end with a networking event bringing together a hundred executives and representatives of technology companies, coming mainly from Malaysia and Spain.
ABOUT THE MALAYSIAN MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATION AND DIGITAL
Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDeC) is the agency under the Ministry of Communications and Digital leading the digital transformation of the economy in the country. MDeC was established in 1996 as the lead agency to implement the MSC Malaysia initiative. Today, we are an agency under the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia with a close to 25-year track-record of successfully leading the ICT and digital economy growth in Malaysia.
ABOUT MINGOTHINGS
Mingothings International, a multi-specialist consulting company, has been dedicated for 8 years to consulting, IoT hardware and software development and integration of cutting-edge technologies.
With a strong and multidisciplinary network around the world (Barcelona, Mexico, Dubai, Nairobi, Kuala Lumpur), the company specializes in creating synergies and leveraging the expertise of each of the actors of a project to create cutting-edge custom solutions.
Worldsensing launches a call for external collaboration
Worldsensing is an innovative company that develops cutting-edge IoT products. It relies on its internal engineering resources, but also requires external support at crucial times to incorporate the latest technological advances into its products and meet its demanding roadmap. That is why Worldsensing is seeking a specialised technology partner to develop projects for it on a recurring basis.
In this regard, Worldsensing announces a Request for Proposal (RFP) for an external service contract to support its product development initiatives, following its internal procurement procedures.
The deadline for proposals will be 15 calendar days after the publication of the RFP (08/02/2023). Please submit your application along with the supporting documentation you consider relevant to [email protected]
Worldsensing relocates Arnau Carbonell to lead Singapore office
Company’s former Sales Area Manager for Europe to lead growth across key Asia Pacific region
Internet-of-Things (IoT) monitoring leader Worldsensing today said Arnau Carbonell will lead the company’s Asia Pacific sales efforts and expansion as Head of Sales APAC. He will be based in Singapore.
Carbonell was formerly a Sales Area Manager for Worldsensing in Europe, in charge of Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Spain as well as East Europe. He will now lead a team including Michael Edwards, Technical Sales Specialist for Australia, and Patrick Pang, a Technical Sales Specialist in Malaysia.
“This move highlights our commitment to supporting partners and customers across Asia Pacific,” said Worldsensing’s Vice President of Global Sales, Matthieu Laville. “We are keen to address growing demand for our monitoring systems in the region.”
Carbonell’s main focus will be on infrastructure, construction, natural hazards monitoring, and mining given its strong presence across Asia Pacific.
Natural hazards in particular are set to become a growing concern for infrastructure asset holders in the region as global warming leads to increased weather impacts.
Australia, for example, has experienced AUD$35 billion in weather-related damages in the decade to 2019, more than double the level seen in the 1970s, based on data from the Australian non-profit Climate Council.
IoT Remote Monitoring
In this context, it will be increasingly important for infrastructure monitoring to employ advanced tools such as Worldsensing’s Event Detection Solution, which can provide warnings when certain environmental parameters exceed safe limits.
“Critical infrastructure is being threatened by risks such as climate change,” said Carbonell. “We need efficient and cost-effective ways of monitoring this infrastructure, and Worldsensing leads the field in high-quality, high-performance systems.”
Worldsensing is also expecting to see strong Asia Pacific demand for IoT monitoring equipment in sectors including construction, civil engineering and rail.
“We are proud to serve companies in some of the most remote and hostile locations in the world, as well as monitoring infrastructure projects in built-up areas or historic sites,” said Laville. “Our commitment is to be wherever our customers and partners need us.”
Worldsensing launches network solution tailored to underground mining at Mines & Money 2022
The company’s IoT remote technology now features tree topology to achieve unparalleled range in subsurface monitoring
Internet of Things (IoT) remote monitoring leader Worldsensing is enhancing its support for the mining industry with an offering that provides seamless data acquisition and transmission underground to help improve risk management.
The new monitoring suite includes an IoT network technology that has been specifically developed for underground environments. As an enhancement to Worldsensing’s existing portfolio, a repeater device now extends the reach of the company’s LoRa IoT configuration with tree topology. This repeater expands the network range and data transmission to almost 10 km underground when sending data in 3 hops.
Worldsensing’s LoRa network runs on a sub-gigahertz radio frequency. In underground environments and as part of the LoRa Tree network, repeaters can retransmit data from nodes to the gateway in a multi-hop setup. Each repeater can reach a gateway up to several kilometers away in a single hop provided the route is near a straight line. In comparison, medium-range mesh networks which use sub-gigahertz frequency can reach a gateway some hundred meters away in a single hop. Short-range mesh networks based on 2.4 gigahertz setups can obtain single-hop ranges of some meters underground.
Even in more complex underground environments, the LoRa tree topology still outperforms wireless alternatives by allowing continuous data flow with a range of hundreds of meters. Overall, this long-range underground technology leads to cost reductions and time savings given that comparably fewer devices are needed to create the monitoring network which leads to lower maintenance to keep the network running and data flowing.
“We have worked with top mining companies to deliver a unique solution that pushes the boundaries of what is possible in underground monitoring,” says Andrew Frost, Worldsensing’s Chief Product and Marketing Officer.
“With this launch, we are reinforcing our commitment to safety in the mining sector, giving mine operators access to the same data underground as they use today to monitor operations on the surface.”
New products for underground monitoring
As part of the LoRa tree technology, Worldsensing is launching a repeater device that can connect to and retransmit the data of hundreds of nodes.
“This solution addresses underground monitoring issues including scattered data collection, highly transited, harsh environments and intricate topologies.” said Andrea Bartoli, Worldsensing’s Chief Technology Officer.
“This new technology has been tested extensively in operational mines and has demonstrated the best cost efficiency for devices deployed and coverage obtained. We have seen that the solution can even reach up to 15 km in range. With this offering, we are deepening our strong links to the mining sector, adapting our offering to provide the best possible operational results for underground environments.”
Worldsensing is recognized as a leading technology supplier to the mining industry, being named Best SME in the Mining Technology Excellence Awards 2020 and having been identified in 2022 by the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) as a major player in the tailing dams monitoring market.
With monitoring being highly recommended by industry bodies such as ICMM, Worldsensing offers the sector’s widest range of integrations with leading instrumentation and monitoring sensor and systems vendors. The width of this integration portfolio makes it easy for mines to connect their existing technology stack to the Internet of Things to obtain data remotely and make data-driven decisions.
Worldsensing’s work on tunnels and other infrastructure featured on Dutch cable TV
Worldsensing’s value in civil infrastructure projects including tunnels and railway lines has been showcased on Dutch television. Worldsensing Chief Executive Ignasi Vilajosana appeared alongside Jasper Schuur, co-owner of measurement systems and software vendor Geometius, in a two-minute video aired on RTL 7, a Dutch cable television channel.
“As a company, what we do is we provide connectivity technology to monitor critical infrastructures, for example dams, railways, metro lines, bridges, tunnels and also mines,” Vilajosana explains in the clip, which is available on YouTube.
The video, part of RTL 7’s Business in Europe program, which showcases companies looking to grow in the European market and brings them to the attention of investors in the Netherlands, shows Worldsensing’s IoT remote monitoring technology being used in a tunnel. Such environments are of growing interest for Worldsensing customers, prompting the launch of a tunnel-wall embedded Smart Tunnel Lining Solution.
“One of our biggest strengths is that we provide technology that is ultra-low power and uses long-range radio, which means we can deploy our devices in the field in an unattended way for many years, helping our customers to capture data in harsh environments,” Vilajosana says in the video.
Wireless Geotechnical Monitoring
Schuur notes that Dutch infrastructure is often aging and needs replacing or upgrading, enhancing the need for careful monitoring before, during and after upgrades. “Monitoring can you help you to say if it’s still in the right specs and if there are any risks in using the infrastructure still,” he says. “With the partnership [with Worldsensing], we are able to include all the data from different types of sensors in one software package, to get the end customer one overview of all the data he needs for his monitoring projects.”
Business in Europe has served as a Dutch launchpad for a variety of fast-growing technology companies. Other recently featured businesses include technology rental specialist Grover Group, mobile sales communication company Wiraya and offshore environmental data tech developer Eolos Floating Lidar.
Geotech leaders: Kim Malcolm of Geomotion; “I started in my garage”
Geotechnical instrumentation industry legend Kim Malcolm of Geomotion Australia is relaxed on the video call from Perth, Western Australia.
He is days away from retiring and his interview for our Geotech Leaders series is one of his last public appearances as the chief executive of one of the most highly esteemed precision monitoring firms in the Southern Hemisphere. Launched in 2004 as Itmsoil Australia and adopting the Geomotion brand in 2016, the business has garnered an enviable reputation for introducing technologies that deliver operational efficiency and value to customers in Australian and Asian markets.
Today Geomotion has around 220 staff and offices in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Yangon. Its project portfolio includes monitoring assignments such as the Metro Tunnel in Melbourne, the Forrestfield-Airport Link and the Crown Tower in Sydney. Here Malcolm reflects on his time in the industry and the changes taking place in geotechnical monitoring.
Questions
What got you into this? Where did it all start?
What was the industry like in those days?
Who were you working with at the beginning?
When did your company become Geomotion?
What trends have you seen in terms of technology and processes?
What would you say are the key trends to watch out for in the next five years or so?
Is there still a debate over whether you host your systems in the cloud or on premise?
What are you proudest of?
Any plans for after Geomotion?
What got you into this? Where did it all start?
I was teaching, and I was bored. I wanted to get out. A friend of mine bought a company in the United States called Slope Indicator Company and needed somebody to do the marketing, so I set up a distribution network for them throughout Asia and then moved on. Boart Longyear bought them out. I worked in Seattle for three years then the guys from Soil Instruments asked me to join them. I worked in the UK for three years and set up a distribution network in Asia for Soil Instruments.
Finally, I came back to Perth and started my own company in my garage. I was a distributor for Soil Instruments. Soil Instruments was good enough to give me the rights to Asia, so that made it easy for me to start. It was a good relationship. They did well and I was able to grow the company because they didn’t have any presence in Australia prior to that. I could grow their market share here. We gradually grew from one to—in Australia—40.
What was the industry like in those days?
It was basically half a dozen sensor manufacturers. Data loggers were just being introduced. And they were very basic data loggers that couldn’t do much at all. That’s really been a revolution. The gathering, storing and displaying of data has really been the crux of change over the last 10 years.
Who were you working with at the beginning?
It was only the contractors, the consultants, who were interested in the data. And coincidentally, about that time in Australia we started to do some good underground projects. The ones we mainly got involved in were metro projects. It was just coincidental that the metro projects going underground were in Perth, so we were able to get all that work. We’ve done very well in Australia, in major projects.
When did your company become Geomotion?
In 2004, I sold the company to a Hong Kong investor, changed the name to Geomotion and got some money to grow, so we opened an office in Sydney. After we opened the office in Sydney, we opened one in Melbourne. Now we’ve just opened one in Brisbane, in Singapore, in Malaysia and in Myanmar as well.
What trends have you seen in terms of technology and processes?
It’s been a natural progression. We got sensors that could be applied to data loggers rather than the pneumatics, or sometimes hydraulics, being used previously. Then the data loggers became more sophisticated and could pump out data more effectively. And with software, you’re getting real-time monitoring. Real-time monitoring has just been a game changer for our industry because it offers the engineer so much insight into what’s happening to the environment as they dig holes and tunnels.
What would you say are the key trends to watch out for in the next five years or so?
I think sensors are going to get more sensitive, or more applicable to different applications. That’s really where I think the next level of growth is going to be. On the data logging side of things, I don’t know how much further we can take it. It seems pretty swish right now. The software packages that are coming out now are complex, but it’s easy to see straightaway whether you’ve got a major issue or not. At the sensor end and there’s not much else we can improve.
Is there still a debate over whether you host your systems in the cloud or on premise?
There used to be in the early days, but I’ve not heard that argument for at least four or five years.
What are you proudest of?
Personally, I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved in Australia. We have become number one, from being a one-man band, borrowing the minimum of money. That’s been quite an achievement. The company is going well, and everyone is happy.
Any plans for after Geomotion?
I’m going to have a holiday—I haven’t had one in three years—for a couple of months and then think about what I’m going to do next. I won’t be sitting around doing nothing.
Summary
Kim Malcolm is a pivotal figure in the development of real-time wireless monitoring in Asia Pacific and Australasia, bringing experience gained in Europe and North America to the region. An expert on monitoring technologies, he appreciates the value of developments such as cloud-based data handling and low-power, long-range networks. Worldsensing wishes him all the best in his retirement.
Geotech leaders: Dots Oyenuga of ASC and his lifetime in tunneling
In the second of a new series of interviews with some of the world’s leading lights in tunnel monitoring, we speak to Dots Oyenuga, founder and owner of tunnel monitoring specialist Analysis & Solutions Consultants.
Dots Oyenuga’s passion for engineering stems from a train journey in France. Riding the high-speed TGV, he was struck by the train’s ability to hurtle along the track so smoothly that even a filled cup would not spill a drop. That day set him on the path to becoming one of the foremost metro engineering specialists in the world.
After taking a Masters’ Degree at George Washington University in the US, he earned a doctorate in geotechnical engineering from the Institut National Polytechnique de Lorraine in France. In the 1980s, he did his doctoral research on deep foundations and the relationship between steel piles and sand. Oyenuga founded Analysis & Solutions Consultants (ASC) in 2001.
This California-based design and construction consulting firm has provided tunnel monitoring support for all kinds of tunnelling projects, with a particular focus on infrastructure and transportation, ever since. Currently, ASC is providing tunnel monitoring services on three enormous urban tunnelling projects, with a total budget of more than USD$3.8 billion, on the Los Angeles Metro’s Purple Line extension into Beverly Hills.
Oyenuga says winning those three contracts in a row is one of his proudest achievements. But it has not all been plain sailing. When Nigeria-born Oyenuga entered the field 40 years ago, engineers were mostly white and male. Even today, data from the National Science Foundation shows only 4.3% of engineers identify as black. As a result, Oyenuga has had to overcome the prejudice faced by many people of colour in the industry.
We were honoured to speak to him about his long and successful career, delve into his pioneering experience in tunnel construction monitoring and gain some insights into the challenges of tunnelling.
Questions
What inspired you to specialize in tunnel monitoring, and where has that path led you?
What are the main challenges you face in tunnel monitoring projects these days?
What have been the benefits of bringing wireless technologies to the tunnel monitoring?
What trends do you see developing in wireless tunnel monitoring technologies?
Which tunnel monitoring project has impressed you most in all your years in the industry, and why?
What inspired you to specialise in tunnel monitoring, and where has that path led you?
Dots Oyenuga: I lived in France for five years. When I first took the TGV, which is the French high-speed train, I was impressed because I had a full glass of water on my table that didn’t spill, despite the train going close to 200 miles an hour. I thought that was a great feat of engineering, like the French subway tunnels and metro systems which I was also exposed to.
Ever since then, I’ve enjoyed working on tunnels. And I’ve been involved in close to 20 tunnelling projects, including—in the Bay Area—the Dublin Pleasanton extensions and the Transbay Tube Seismic Retrofit project. I also worked on the H-3 tunnels in Hawaii. I wrote the road tunnel design guidelines for the Federal Highway Administration, which is now used worldwide for the design of tunnels and also sold around the world by the US Department of Commerce.
I decided to go into structural and geotechnical instrumentation because the landscape for engineering design was choked up by larger firms. Only the crumbs were left. Instrumentation was pretty much virgin territory, so I staked my claim there and started my company about 20 years ago. We specialized in monitoring tunnel construction, providing all the tools necessary.
We are the first in the US to use an integrated, automated wireless data acquisition system to monitor urban tunnel construction projects. We dispense with all the legacy systems. Everything is automated, everything is wireless. And we’ve had a lot of success with it. We’re currently monitoring 10 miles of tunnel construction in Los Angeles in real time. We have close to 10,000 sensors that we maintain for that task. That number will probably increase to around 17,000. That’s quite a bit of monitoring.
We’re also providing critical surveys for about 700 buildings, and real-time construction noise and vibration monitoring and control. It’s quite a task and we’re very fortunate to be in this position.
What are the main challenges you face in tunnel construction monitoring projects these days?
It depends on the delivery methods that are being utilized. In design-bid-build scenarios, where the project documents are put out to bid as opposed to when the bid goes out early in the design, the contractor is responsible for finalizing the design and constructing the project. Also, you could have a progressive design build, in which the owner of the project works with the contractor and they jointly come up with the final documents. Then the contractor will go ahead with the construction.
Everything is locked up in that scenario, and there’s no change allowed. The contractor is invested in the design process early. There’s also the situation where you might have the underground environment as a separate contract from the tunnel. We sometimes have a lot of potential stakeholders that we interface with, including in the city, the county, commercial property owners and residential property owners.
Because we interface with all these stakeholders, in most instances we prefer to use wireless technology. We integrate automated data acquisition systems in the wireless system. The installation of monitors and monitoring of the tunnelling has to be done with minimal disruption. As a result, we prefer to have wireless systems to avoid having to lay lots of cables that would disrupt traffic.
What have been the benefits of bringing wireless technologies to tunnel construction monitoring?
The main benefit is dispensing with cabling as much as possible. In some instances, we still have cables, but it’s minimal, so we don’t break up the roadway, disrupt the flow of traffic and block pedestrians’ right of way. It’s been very helpful from that perspective, but I think the industry is slow to adopt technology. Other industries have embraced technology like automation, but our industry is still lagging in this regards.
I think that’s primarily because of the litigious nature of contracting and the industry in the US.
What trends do you see developing in wireless tunnel construction monitoring technologies?
Right now, we’re focused on the micro level, in the sense that we have all these little sensors and we monitor all the sensors using data loggers. But I think automated data collection will grow. So, we could have fewer sensors and have them move from one point to another and collect data that way. I think another change is using the macro level as opposed to micro level.
There’s technology out there called InSAR [interferometric synthetic-aperture radar] where we can use satellites and come up with pre-existing trends and settlement patterns prior to construction. During construction, we can measure at a macro level, and then zero in on more problematic areas and take more detailed measurements from legacy systems. I think that’s probably where we’re headed with this.
You could have settlement maps long before we start to contemplate having construction in those areas. Anyone involved in construction could dial up historic data and use those trends to map movements.
Which tunnel construction monitoring project has impressed you most in all your years in the industry, and why?
I think it probably will be the projects that we have in Los Angeles. These are really signature projects. We’re constructing a subway system to Beverly Hills and other critical infrastructure, and we went under the 405 Freeway, where we had continuous mining. We’ve brought a lot of technologies to bear on that. We’re doing reflector-less monitoring where we’re not putting prism targets on structures but, instead, we monitor remotely.
We’re pushing the envelope and coming up with new applications for technologies—and it’s been a lot of fun, and a real boost to our confidence. I think we ultimately want to become the best organization for instrumentation in the US for tunnel construction. And I think we’re pretty much on our way.
Summary
Renaissance man Dots Oyenuga is living proof of the value of diversity in geotechnical engineering and instrumentation. Using wireless remote monitoring technologies, his experience and knowledge are helping to safeguard the progress of some of the most important subsurface projects in North America.
Worldsensing expands LatAm coverage with Mexico presence
Experienced Business Development Manager Fernando Pérez to support growing Latin American IoT remote monitoring market
Remote monitoring leader Worldsensing is expanding its Latin American coverage with the appointment of Business Development Manager Fernando Pérez Gutiérrez to handle sales in Mexico.
Pérez, who has been with Worldsensing since 2018 and was previously sales manager for Latin America and Africa, is relocating to Guadalajara, Mexico, with immediate effect.
From there he will provide additional coverage to key markets within LatAm, complementing automation engineering expert Leonardo Vidigal Meireles, Worldsensing’s technical sales specialist in Brazil.
Both experts are working to support local Worldsensing partners such as Geosinergia, a Chilean geotechnical and structural instrumentation provider working on major mining projects.
Pérez will also have special responsibility for developing sales in Mexico and other Central American countries, where there is a growing need for remote Internet of Things (IoT) monitoring technology for infrastructure projects such as mines, tunnels and metro lines.
“Given our sector focus on mining and related infrastructure projects, Latin America is a key market for us,” said Matthieu Laville, Senior Director of Global Sales at Worldsensing.
“We are delighted that Fernando is moving to Mexico to enhance our presence on the ground in this region.”
A solid and growing presence
Worldsensing already has a solid presence in the Brazilian market, with Worldsensing’s equipment being certified by Brazil’s National Agency for Telecommunications and the company being admitted to the Brazilian Mining Association.
Mexico also has an important mining industry. It is the world’s largest producer of silver and one of the top producers of gold, copper and zinc.
Separately, the country is home to Latin America’s busiest metro system, the Mexico City Metro, and two more of the top 20 urban transit systems in the region.
