Your cell phone could reveal the health status of bridges just by being in your pocket as you go about your daily travels.
Accelerometers and GPS sensors that are standard components in smartphones collect information that can show how bridges flex and vibrate as vehicles travel across, researchers report November 3 in Communications Engineering.
Apps that gather the measurements could keep travelers safe by alerting engineers that a bridge needs repair. The tools could also warn of, or help prevent, catastrophic failures like the tragic footbridge collapse in the western Indian state of Gujarat on October 30, or the bridge span that crumbled in Pittsburgh in January (SN: 11/16/07).
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