SPEPC TECHNOLOGY

Solution

Geological Hazard Monitoring and Early Warning Solution for Highway Corridors

Background Introduction

Highways are a vital transportation artery for national economic development and social progress, and the geological safety along their routes directly affects driving safety, the smooth flow of logistics, and the lives and property of the public. China’s road network extensively traverses mountainous and hilly areas as well as regions with adverse geological conditions, where slope failures, landslides, and subgrade settlements—among other geohazards—are characterized by strong concealment, high suddenness, and significant destructive power. In recent years, major and catastrophic incidents such as the collapse on the Meida Expressway and the slope failure along the Dulongjiang Highway have occurred frequently, resulting in substantial casualties and traffic disruptions. Traditional manual inspection methods suffer from numerous blind spots, long inspection cycles, and delayed early warning, making it difficult to achieve real-time perception of geological hazard risks along the route and to implement proactive risk mitigation.

Therefore, establishing an automated, round-the-clock, high-precision geological hazard monitoring and early-warning system along highways—capable of real-time monitoring of key parameters such as slope deformation, crack activity, rainfall, and soil moisture content, coupled with intelligent early warning—has become an urgent necessity for enhancing the intrinsic safety of road infrastructure and ensuring public travel safety.

Solution Overview

This solution is an automated monitoring and early-warning system for geological hazards along roadways, integrating multi-source sensor data acquisition, wireless transmission, AI‑based intelligent analysis, and multi‑level alerting.

The solution adheres to the principles of cost-effectiveness, real-time performance, and high reliability. By comprehensively monitoring surface displacement, deep-seated slope inclination, crack propagation, soil moisture content, rainfall, and video imagery, it establishes a complete data pipeline spanning “sensing–transmission–platform–application.”

The system deploys intelligent monitoring devices—including GNSS displacement sensors, integrated inclinometers, crack meters, rain gauges, soil moisture sensors, piezometers, and AI‑powered video surveillance cameras—at critical locations along the slope. These devices collect real-time data on deformation, environmental conditions, and video footage, which are then transmitted via 4G or LoRa wireless networks to a cloud‑based monitoring and early‑warning platform.

The platform incorporates AI‑based algorithms to perform integrated analysis of multi‑source data, assess trends, and predict potential hazards. When monitored data exceed predefined thresholds, the system automatically issues early‑warning notifications via in‑platform pop‑ups, SMS messages, and on‑site audio‑visual alarms, thereby shifting from passive inspections to proactive early warning. This provides a scientific basis for slope‑related hazard prevention, emergency response, and maintenance decision‑making.

FEATURES OF THE SOLUTION

24/7 Automated Condition Monitoring

24/7 Automated Condition Monitoring

Key parameters—including surface displacement, deep-seated slope inclination, cracks, soil moisture content, and rainfall—are continuously and automatically monitored around the clock, 24/7, thereby addressing the blind spots and time lags inherent in manual inspections.
High Precision and Multi-Source Perception

High Precision and Multi-Source Perception

Employing GNSS high-precision positioning (horizontal accuracy ±2.5 mm + 0.5 ppm), MEMS tilt sensors (accuracy ±0.05°), and vibrating-wire piezometers (resolution 0.025% of full scale), the system achieves millimeter‑level deformation monitoring and microenvironment sensing.
AI-powered analytics and early warning

AI-powered analytics and early warning

The platform features a built-in single-stage object detection and multi-dimensional feature extraction algorithm, supporting multiple alert modes such as tilt, collapse, rainfall, and soil moisture content. It provides automated tiered early warnings and effectively mitigates environmental interference.
Visualized Centralized Control

Visualized Centralized Control

The platform integrates GIS mapping with a B/S architecture, enabling real-time access to monitoring data, historical trends, alarm logs, and video feeds via both PC and mobile apps, thereby providing comprehensive oversight of the entire slope‑safety situation.
Wireless Networking and Low Power Consumption

Wireless Networking and Low Power Consumption

The device supports dual-mode 4G and LoRa communication, is powered by a built-in lithium‑ion battery or solar energy, requires no cabling, and is well suited to unpowered outdoor environments. It offers easy installation and low operational maintenance costs.

 

System Architecture

The system employs a mature and robust three-tier IoT architecture, characterized by clear layering and reliable operation:

Perception Layer
It comprises an integrated array of smart sensing devices—such as inclinometers, crack meters, static leveling instruments, and vibration sensors—deployed on the building’s load-bearing walls, beams, columns, foundations, and adjacent retaining walls, responsible for acquiring real-time raw data on structural deformation, settlement, and vibration.

Network layer

By leveraging public or private wireless communication networks such as 4G, NB‑IoT, and LoRa, a low‑power, highly reliable uplink channel is established to securely and reliably transmit data from the perception layer to the cloud server.

Data Application Layer

The cloud-based monitoring and early-warning platform is responsible for data reception, storage, analysis, visualization, and the issuance of alerts. The platform offers real-time monitoring, historical data retrieval, trend analysis, alert‑rule configuration, device management, and system administration, while providing users with a user-friendly interface via both a web portal and a mobile app.

System platform

By deploying automated intelligent monitoring terminals, key structural data—including building tilt, crack patterns, and settlement—are collected in real time from the structures and their associated retaining walls.

The backend data management platform performs intelligent analysis of multi-source monitoring data, conducts trend assessments and disaster forecasting, and automatically pushes tiered early-warning notifications to relevant personnel.

System Implementation 7×24 Hourly, round-the-clock, all‑round dynamic monitoring enables users to track the deformation and structural health of buildings anytime, anywhere, providing a scientific basis for early warning, preventive measures, and maintenance management of buildings and retaining walls.

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