Prof. Yi-Qing Ni from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University has made remarkable achievcmtats in the field of structural health monitoring. The fiber Bragg grating sensors developed by his team have been applied to major railway lines such as the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Rail and the Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway. This technology enables real-time monitoring of key indicators such as wheel flats and track deformation, thereby significantly enhancing the safety and operational efficiency of high-speed rail services. In 2016, this technology was successfully used in the Singapore MRT and for monitoring structural components of train cars. Line 4 of the Rio Olympic Metro, The total length of tracks under monitoring reach 500 kilometers.
Prof. Yi-Qing Ni has also led his team in establishing an object detection system based on images and LiDAR technology, which can accurately identify objects on railway tracks for ensuring the safe operation of trains. The AI-powered intelligent monitoring cloud platform developed by his team allows maintenance personnel to monitor train operation data in real time and to optimize the central control system. This platform has been implemented in the railway networks in Singapore and Hong Kong, as well as mainland China's high-speed rail lines.
In the realm of railway noise control, the acoustic metamaterial sound-absorbing barriers and intelligent particle dampers developed by Prof. Ni's team can effectively mitigate the noise generated by rail transit, thereby enhancing passenger comfort. These technologies are currently undergoing testing and trial application in the Hong Kong and Shenzhen MTR.
Furthermore, Prof. Ni has been actively promoting the integration of smart materials and AI. The self-sensing concrete he developed is currently undergoing application tests in collaboration with the Shanghai Railway Bureau. He is leading the project "INTACT: Intelligent Tropical Storm Disaster Mitigation System for Coastal Cities" which adopts LiDAR wind measurement technology as the core, for quantitative prediction of the potential destructive force of typhoons on buildings with a view to formulating solution for coping with extreme storms in coastal cities.
Prof, Ni stresses the significance of cultivating interdisciplinary talents and recommends civil engineering students learning advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence to better adapt to the future development of the industry.
