The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has announced nine awards for new research projects to develop advanced sensing technologies. Development would enable timely and detailed monitoring and inspection of the structural health of bridges, roadways and water systems that comprise a significant component of the nation’s public infrastructure. The awards, the first to be made under NIST’s new Technology Innovation Program (TIP), initiate up to $88.2 million in new research over the next five years on structure monitoring and inspection technologies, $42.5 million of it potentially funded by TIP.The new TIP projects target innovative, low-cost and reliable sensors and related technologies that provide quantitative assessments of the structural integrity or degree of deterioration of bridges, roads, water mains and wastewater-collection systems. The US has 1 million miles of water mains, 600,000 bridges and 4 million miles of public roadway, and experts have pointed to serious gaps in the nation’s ability to monitor these networks adequately to ensure timely maintenance and repair. Twenty-five percent of US bridges were rated as structurally deficient or functionally obsolete in 2007, according to the Federal Highway Administration, and the Environmental Protection Agency has reported that there are 240,000 water main breaks per year in the US. Baltimore, as an example of an older urban area, suffered almost 1200 water main breaks in 2003. Leakages and breaks in water distribution systems are estimated to waste up to 6 billion gallons of drinking water each day.Damaged infrastructure also directly affects large numbers of Americans. The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that Americans spend $54 billion each year in vehicle repairs caused by poor road conditions.TIP supports, promotes and accelerates innovation through high-risk, high-reward research in areas of critical national need. The merit-based competitive program can fund cost-shared R&D projects by single small- or medium-size businesses and joint ventures that also may include institutions of higher education, nonprofit research organizations and national laboratories. TIP awards are limited to no more than $3 million total over three years for a single company project and to no more than $9 million total over five years for a joint venture. The nine research projects that have been selected include: Development of SCANS for Advanced Health Management of Civil InfrastructuresAcellent Technologies Inc. (Sunnyvale, Calif.)• Project duration: three years• Projected TIP contribution: $2,995 K• Projected cost-share contribution: $2,995 KFiber Sensing System for Civil Infrastructure Health MonitoringDistributed Sensor Technologies Inc. (Santa Clara, Calif., Joint Venture Lead)• Project duration: three years • Projected TIP contribution: $4,030 K • Project cost-share contribution: $4,518 K Infrastructure Defect Recognition, Visualization and Failure Prediction System Utilizing Ultrawideband Pulse Radar ProfilometryELXSI Corp. (Orlando, Fla., Joint Venture Lead)• Project duration: three years • Projected TIP contribution: $3,119 K • Project cost-share contribution: $3,629 K Microwave Thermoelectric Imager for Corrosion Detection and Monitoring in Reinforced ConcreteNewport Sensors Inc. (Irvine, Calif.)• Project duration: three years • Projected TIP contribution: $1,249 K • Project cost-share contribution: $1,249 K VOTERS: Versatile Onboard Traffic Embedded Roaming SensorsNortheastern University (Boston, Joint Venture Lead)• Project duration: five years • Projected TIP contribution: $9,000 K • Project cost-share contribution: $9,802 K Self-Powered Wireless Sensor Network for Structural Bridge Health PrognosisPhysical Acoustics Corp. (Princeton Junction, N.J., Joint Venture Lead)• Project duration: five years • Projected TIP contribution: $6,930 K • Project cost-share contribution: $6,969 K Next Generation SCADA for Prevention and Mitigation of Water System Infrastructure DisasterUniversity of California at Irvine (Irvine, Joint Venture Lead)• Project duration: three years • Projected TIP contribution: $2,800 K • Project cost-share contribution: $2,885 K Cyber-Enabled Wireless Monitoring Systems for the Protection of Deteriorating National Infrastructure SystemsUniversity of Michigan (Ann Arbor, Joint Venture Lead)• Project duration: five years • Projected TIP contribution: $8,998 K • Project cost-share contribution: $10,164 K Development of Rapid, Reliable and Economic Methods for Inspection and Monitoring of Highway BridgesThe University of Texas at Austin (Austin, Joint Venture Lead)• Project duration: five years • Projected TIP contribution: $3,421 K • Project cost-share contribution: $3,421 K For more information, visit: http://www.nist.gov/