Semi-Real Time

Inclinometer readings

using Wire-less

Technologies

G.H. Tan, Y.K. Poh

SysEng (S) Pte Ltd

N. Osborne, C.C. Ng

Land Transport Authority, Singapore

Geotechnical Instruments are :-

•Site Investigation Work

•Design Verification

•Performance

•Safety

•Construction Control

•Quality Control

•Legal Protection

When safety is the highest

priority, it must have a reliable

and fast method to deliver on-

site results to decision

makers:-

•Safety

•Construction Control

•Quality Control

•Legal Protection

Lessons

learned from

a Major Past

incident

Inclinometers are used for monitoring

the soil movements over timeDaily

Automatic

Data

Processing of

Inclinometer

Readings

Current Industry

practice

Geokon Slope Indicator Encardio-rite

RST Instruments (PDA)

Inclinometers from various manufacturers

Soil Instruments (PDA)

There readout

boxes require a

PC to download

their data

Timing for measuring 10 bore holes in a site

10 mins

In Main office, switch on

PC to download,

process, verify and

email to Stake Holders

Drive back

for 60 mins

Case Study:

Total Throughput time

for Bore Hole#1 data to

reach end user is

60x10 + 10x9 + 60 + 30

mins = 780 mins (13 hrs)

30 mins for

processing data

60 minsBore

Hole#1

10 mins

60 minsBore

Hole#2

10 mins

60 minsBore

Hole#3

60 minsBore

Hole#10

Many challenges to ensure

consistency as construction sites

are far from ideal conditions with

practical constraints of :-

•Human Errors

•Measurement bore holes with

blockages

•Worker inexperience

•Inefficiencies due to manual work

•Weather (Rain, Lightning and Heat)

A new method to

reduce the time taken

from the

measurement until it

reaches the Stake

Holder using Wire-

less Technologies

Simple steps for Data retrieval from sites using

existing inclinometer, user’s mobile phone

Short Range

Device consists

of a battery

powered

embedded

computer with

Wire-less

Bluetooth

module

3 m

Central

Server

System

Transferring data from Mobile Phone to

Stake holder using Central Server

GPRS

Open

Public

Network

Email with

raw data &

Inclinometer

plot

Worker walks

to another

bore hole

Timing taken in the New Work Flow Process

2 mins

Case Study:

Total Throughput time

for Bore Hole#1 data to

reach end user is

60 + 2 + 8 mins = 70 mins

60 minsBore

Hole#1

8 mins

GPRS

Transmission

Automatic

Processing

and Emailing

10 mins

Comparison of the time taken to

obtain on site measurements

Current Practice : 780 minutes

Improve Method : 70 minutes

Throughput improvements :

= 780 / 70 = 11 !

+

Advantages of the Semi-Real Time

Inclinometer solution

• PC-less system to retrieve the data

• Preventing loss of PC on site

• Maximum use of inclinometer system

• Low Error possibility with less human

intervention of data processing

• Worker uses this own Mobile Phone with only

additional GPRS charges

• Consultant gets measured data immediately

• Any measurement re-confirmation can be done

immediately via a phone call rather than doing it

the next day

Site Workers Office staff gets

information and

discuss resultsMeasures and Transmit data

+SDR

The feedback comments from

the users:-

• When the readings showed

unexpected movements, it

provides opportunity to

immediately phone the site staff

to re-measure and verify that

particular bore-hole.

• When there are Critical Lateral

Displacements to be monitored,

this is the best approach to

control the Site Work Activities

to enhance the Safety as well as

to allow Critical Activity to be

carried out

• Without this technology, the

technician needs to monitor all

the inclinometers of the project

before he comes back to office

at the end of the day to down

load the raw data readings

logged in the readout box to the

PC. It will take a few hours for

the readings of the inclinometer

to reach the user after it is taken

An added advantage for

the data security to

prevent unaware data

alteration in the system

to help Professional

Engineers minimize

their risks & liabilities

Current Data Flow Practice

Readout

Box and

Computer

for down

loading

Monitoring

EngineerProcess

Report with

justifiable

adjustment

Mistakes ?

Care-less ?

Forget ?

Authority

Consultant

Proposed Data Flow Security

Central

Server

Monitoring

Engineer

Process

Reports with

justifiable

adjustments

Raw data

kept intact

using Parallel

Information

Flow for

verification

Processed

Inclinometer

Information

Authority

Consultant

Benefits of the Proposed System• The measured data is automatically plotted

and email simultaneously to all stake holders

• This processed information will be over-

ride, if the monitoring engineer has

correction with justifications

• Unique User ID tagged to Readout Box to

avoid mixed up information from various

Readout Boxes and Files

• Date & Time when the readings are carried

out are Logged at the Server, & NOT using

the clock of the Readout Box, which could

be altered at Box level