I.B.M. Intelligent Operations Center

 The New York Times provides a focus in an article today on the mission control center of our future (Mission Control, Built for Cities - In the Chaos That Is Rio, An I.B.M. System Seeks Order).  By 2050, 75% of the world's population is expected to live in cities - - I.B.M. has built the NASA version of the command center for the city of the future.

Key points in the article on the project in Rio de Janerio:

• This is the first project in the world in which data integration has been completed on a city this large.  Data flowing in under one roof from 30 different departments.
• One goal is take all the incoming data and produce usable information with the help of algorithms - - a process I.B.M. calls "sense-making software." (great way to describe it!).
• The market for "smart systems" is expected to be $57 billion by 2014.
• The Rio project was completed in 2010.
• "Smart is all about information."
• "Once you have the information and understand it, you are halfway to smart."  As the article pointed out, Rio is hugely complex on many different levels.  If you are not careful, you are also probably halfway to stupid.
• "We used to have all of this information.  But we could not put it together to use in a smart, intelligent way."
• From Cisco provided network infrastructure and telecommunications and video conferencing to Samsung digital screens in the mayor's house - - I.B.M. played the role of "master integrator."
• Problems were divided into four categories for city employees - - events, incidents, emergencies, and crises.  From floods to landslides - - step-by-step procedures and manuals were developed.
• The system has a virtual operations platform that acts as a Web-based clearinghouse - - phone, radio, e-mail, text, etc.
• Information is collected for historical analysis - - for example, which intersections have the most accidents.
• "The system the mayor created will resolve a problem when it happens, but it does not resolve infrastructure problems."  The balance between the forces of reactionary and preventive is fundamentally a balance between the needs of bits and bytes and concrete and steel.  The discussions on urban management and infrastructure improvement must include the word "and" and not just the word "or".
• "Can you think of a system that is more complex than a city?"

Engineering for cash and glory

This might be a good methodology to come up with solutions to some of our more pressing problems.  The clever use of contests and prizes.  Qualcomm, a wireless firm, is offering $10 million for a mobile app that can diagnose patients better than a group of doctors.

TI's Wolverine

Texas Instrument recently announced a new generation of ultra-low-power microcontrollers (MSP430 microcontroller platform).  The new technology uses less than half of the power of similar products on the market - - and provides the lowest active power, standby power, memory power and peripheral power consumption available.  Innovation in battery life technology has stalled - - the burden of lowering power really falls on the semiconductors.  Something like this can give you 10 to 20 years of battery life.  TI is currently working with the makers of a medical patch to wirelessly monitor vital statistics.  As battery life becomes less of an issue, look for a world of senors and microprosseors in more and more of our public infrastructure.  Huge market for connecting our public assets into the "Internet of Things" - - and one step closer to a battery-less world.

Decentralizing Water Resources

The continuing drought in Texas and water supply concerns throughout the Southwestern U.S. has created a viable decentralized water market.  The history of global water supply and wastewater treatment is one of moving down the economies of scale curve - - from highly decentralized water systems as pioneers and farmers to highly centralized water systems associated with our current urban environments.  Society to most Americans provides us with all our water and we provide society back with all our wastewater.  As water restrictions continue to dominate the news in Texas, people are beginning to ask, "Why should my shower water become someones drinking water?" and "Why is my rainwater running down the driveway to the street?"

A recent article in the February 23, 2012 issue of the Dallas Morning News, Baby the plants with bath water, by Thomas Korosec addressed the issues of "gray water" and landscaping.  Korosec writes the following:

"Letting the washing machine pump out on the ground is an old-time country approach that both watered the pasture and lengthened the life of a septic system.  Over the past decade or so, use of this so-called gray water to irrigate lawns and landscape has been taken up by green living advocates and approved by legislatures in approximately 13 states.

Texas authorized residential use of gray water in 2003.  Homeowners can use 400 gallons a day for landscape irrigation without a permit.  Systems also must meet city codes.

Texas rules define gray water as effluent from showers and bathtubs, clothes-washing machines and sinks not used for food preparation or disposal.  It is distinct from so called black water from toilets, dishwashers, and kitchen sinks.  Black water must be disposed in sanitary sewers or septic systems."

Another decentralized approach would be rainwater catchment.  Clean water from the sky.  Our recent drought has forced homeowners to seek watering alternatives that disrupt classic economies of scale.  If you have $10,000 worth of landscaping, water from the sky may look very economically attractive if the alternative is no water at all.  The article profiles one innovative company from Denton, Texas - - H2Options that designs and builds green irrigation systems.

I previously covered the segregation of water (gray, black, and yellow) in The Right Water for the Right Purpose.

  

The next trip to IKEA

Maybe buy the complete house for $86,500.

Additional photographs and diagrams at - - http://www.ideabox.us/models/aktiv/.

Iranian Concrete

Rarely does the world of civil engineering interface with the world of geopolitics.  The current issue of the Economist has an excellent article on the rare intersection - - concrete happens to be the interface point.  The article, Smart Concrete, looks at the world of Iranian concrete.  It seems Iran makes some of the world's toughest concrete.  Concrete that is designed to cope with earthquakes, but which also has the potential to deal with bunker-busting bombs.

Iran is good at making "ultra-high performance concrete" (UHPC) because it is in an earthquake zone with a history of concrete and material engineering.  Its' engineers have developed some of the toughest building materials in the world.  Researchers at Bu-Ali Sina University in Hamada have focused on polypropylene fibers to give their concrete the flexibility to absorb far heavier blows than regular concrete.  They are also looking at nanoparticles to "bomb-proof" the internal structure of concrete.  Engineers at Islamic Azad University in Saveh have published several papers on how to enhance concrete with different types of metal-oxide nanoparticles.

Going up against the civil engineers are the bomb designers.  The article pointed out that a 13 ton bomb exists that reportedly can break through 60 meters of ordinary concrete.  Against UHPC, the bomb is less effective - - penetrating only eight meters.  Computer modelling supports both groups of engineers - - who has the best simulations will be critical.  It would be embarrassing if the Iranian nuclear production facilities and bunkers were still intact when the smoke cleared.  It boils down to a battle of engineers - - the builders versus the busters.

Air Danshin Systems, Inc.

Air Danshin Systems, Inc. has developed a new process to protect residential houses in Japan from earthquakes.  This is how it works - - so get the stop watch out (I have a previous blog on earthquake early warning systems - - What would a safety engineer do with an extra 20-seconds?):

1. A network of sensitive seismometers would provide the basis for wave detection warnings.  Early indications have estimated a 20-second warning window.
2. Within 0.5 to 1 second an air tank pushes air in-between an artificial foundation and the actual structure of the home, lifting it as high as three centimeters of the ground.
3. So within 21 seconds or so you potentially have a house on a cushion of air during an earthquake.

Great video at - - http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Abc_LfNRNpE