球速体育研究 led by 保罗Ohodnicki, associate professor of 机械工程和材料科学 at the University of 匹兹堡 斯旺森工程学院, recently received $1 million in funding to utilize Pitt-developed optical fiber sensor technology as the “nerves” of critical infrastructure, such as natural gas pipelines, to mimic the principle of a nervous system. Ohodnicki also teaches in the 电气与计算机工程 department.

The research will embed optical fiber sensors internal to the pipeline to create an “神经支配”管道系统 that enables monitoring the integrity of the pipes through acoustic and vibrational signatures of defects. 通过将嵌入式传感器与人工智能和机器学习相结合，并集成到管道系统的总体数字孪生体中，可以实现“智能”管道，从而实现有针对性的原位缺陷修复。 它采用了一种新兴的机器人履带部署技术，称为“冷喷涂”，减少了停机时间，大大降低了维修成本。

该团队还计划开发一种经济模型，用于原位修复和传感器嵌入式涂层技术，以及对商业化所需的现有和标准监管要求进行详细的修改。