Shropshire Star

Telford BAE team developing Bluetooth system for bridges

A pioneering sensor system is being developed by engineers at a Telford plant to help ensure the safety of bridges used by 60-tonne tanks.

Published
One of the mobile bridges developed by BAE Systems

BAE Systems' operation at Hadley Park is home to the defence giant's specialist military bridging team, a 50-strong group of engineers tasked with maintaining and developing bridges which can be dropped into difficult terrain to allow people and vehicles to cross rivers and ravines safely.

Considered Europe's most advanced bridge facility, it simulates thousands of bridge crossings by a variety of vehicles, allowing BAE to assess bridge performances.

Now the team at the plant is testing a new system which uses Bluetooth and sensors to report on the remaining service life of military bridging systems.

The fatigue monitoring technology will continuously detect stress and strain on bridges used by tanks such as the Challenger 2, which tips the scales at more than 60 tonnes.

The data is then wirelessly transmitted to a handheld device to allow soldiers to assess the health of a bridge.

John Lees, bridging business manager for BAE Systems Land (UK), said: “The biggest obstacle to monitoring bridge health is achieving a continuous flow of accurate data telling you what the bridge is experiencing.

"Simply monitoring the number of crossings – as most military users do now – doesn’t give an accurate picture. Our new solution monitors and analyses all of these variables to give a real-time, accurate assessment of bridge condition.

"It will make it easier to use our bridges in civilian situations such as disaster relief, where keeping accurate data on crossings is very difficult. It will also reduce whole-life ownership cost by ensuring bridges are serviced only when required and that they can confidently be used for their entire service life.”

It comes as the Telford team works on developing and testing a next-generation modular bridging system aimed at improving agility and reliability.

BAE designed and manufactured the British Army’s rapidly deployable military bridging system, the BR90, in the 1990s.

The system comprises 74 bridging systems and can be used in a variety of configurations, adding up to a total of 8.5km of bridge trackway. BAE says it "provides the most rapidly deployed and flexible gap crossing capability in the world". Another variant of the bridge can be used to span gaps greater than 60m.

BAE's Telford operation is also home to the company's UK armoured vehicle maintenance operation, which upgrades and repairs a variety of tanks.