A new European research project investigates whether existing fibre-optic cables can be used as real-time sensors to detect hidden damage in critical infrastructure such as bridges, railways, tunnels and energy pipelines
The £4.5M (€5.1M) Engineered Combined Sensing and Telecommunications Architectures for Tectonic and Infrastructure Characterisation (Ecstatic) project, coordinated by Aston University in Birmingham, is conducting live trials on a heavily used railway viaduct in a major UK city. The trial aims to identify structural stress and vibrations before they cause failures.
Currently, widespread deployment of physical sensors across transport and energy networks is prohibitively expensive and disruptive. Instead, Ecstatic’s approach harnesses ultra-precise laser pulses sent through fibre-optic cables already embedded beneath infrastructure.
The cables react to physical flexing and vibrations induced by passing trains or environmental stress by altering the properties of the light travelling through them. These minute changes create an optical signature that can be analysed using advanced photonic chips and artificial intelligence to detect early warning signs of damage without interrupting internet services.
Recent bridge collapses in Europe have highlighted the need for improved monitoring methods. The 2018 Morandi Bridge disaster in Genoa resulted in 43 deaths and exposed the risks posed by ageing infrastructure. More recently, the partial collapse of Dresden’s Carolabrücke bridge disrupted transport and utilities, leaving parts of the city without hot water for hours. These incidents reveal the challenge of maintaining ageing transport networks and the potentially severe consequences of undetected structural deterioration.