Message from the Research Director


 We are involved in the Research and Development of a Sensing System for the Road Infrastructure Monitoring System (RIMS) as part of the NEDO-commissioned Robot and Sensor System Development Project for Infrastructure Maintenance and Disaster Survey.

 In this R&D, we are newly developing an innovative, compact, high-performance, wireless sensor module that is durable and inexpensive and that is self-powered by ambient energy, and a sensor network system that will enable road administrators to centrally manage multiple types of monitoring targets. One of the most pressing issues in Japan today is the maintenance and renewal of social infrastructure, much of which was constructed around the high-growth period from 1954 to 1973. Road infrastructure accounts for 92.3% of the domestic volume of land freight transport (as of 2012) and heavily impacts the daily lives of Japan’s citizens. Of this road infrastructure, the sensor modules and sensor network system will focus on issues related to bridges, road equipment, and slopes, complementing existing inspection technologies and enabling 24-hour continuous and comprehensive monitoring of the present state of roads. The system will enable monitoring of less accessible locations and facilitate response to disasters and other unexpected events.

 By establishing common platforms for wireless communication network technologies, highly durable packaging and reliability technologies, and road site demonstration and evaluation technologies in particular, we are streamlining development through open innovation among industry, government, and academia, including companies involved in sensors, communication systems, packaging, and expressways, as well as independent administrative corporations and national university corporations, and are building a system that addresses all needs of road infrastructure.

 We will begin by demonstrating the system on expressways that have an established framework for maintenance management. The results obtained from these demonstrations will then be extended to public roads and highways, thereby helping to enrich the lives of people through safe and secure road infrastructure. I believe that further deploying the system in foreign countries facing the same challenges will also contribute to Japan’s Growth Strategy.

July 2014
Isao Shimoyama
Research Director, Road Infrastructure Monitoring System (RIMS) Project
(Director of Information and Robot Technology Research Initiative (IRT), The University of Tokyo)


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