Adding Wireless Connectivity to Geotechnical Instruments

One of the hallmarks of the hi-tech, interconnected age in which we live and do business is the way in which new technologies are developed and then continue to evolve, often in a direction not envisaged or anticipated by their creators.

An example of this is wireless connectivity. Initially used most to connect devices like computers, printers, and cell phones to each other via a common, wireless standard, this technology is now used for a much wider variety of interconnectivity applications, with new types of usage being found all the time.

Because wireless technologies in mobile applications use a common standard that is not limited to any device type, brand, or specific use case, it is ideal for use as a way to connect devices that one would not initially imagine could “talk” to each other.

Wireless technologies are already widely in use within offices, schools, on the street, in vehicles, etc., and now they are also moving firmly into the world of mining, underground and surface, and civil engineering.

Sensor-based geotechnical instruments are already widely in use within these industries for safety monitoring and control purposes, and there are already a few well-established ways to gather the data they produce, but an exciting recent development is the ability to use mobile wireless technologies to gather data from geotechnical instruments, something that is ideally suited to certain use cases.

The SMART Link-BLT Wireless Module from MDT makes it possible to gather data from SMART geotechnical instruments (MPBX, cable, contractometer) completely wirelessly by using a freely available Android tablet that is MDT-approved and has the MDT SMART app installed.

Click here to find out more about the SMART Link-BLT Wireless Module, and here to find out about the MDT SMART App.