Development of an integrated and automated displacement measurement system and its application to monitoring dams

The authors developed an automated displacement measurement system which delivers information on displacement of ground surfaces on demand, combining the accurate positioning of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technology with a full-time monitoring center. The system can also be used to centrally manage and share measurements from a wide range of monitoring systems, not just GNSS sensors. Displacement data is shared on the cloud, do not require proprietary software, and can be viewed on any device connected to the web. The system is called Shamen-net after the Japanese word for slope (shamen), but useful in measuring displacement across a wide range of infrastructure, including dams, tunnels, bridges, and mines. The system has an established track record in Japan, having proved its efficiency in protecting livelihoods in recently ever-frequent landslides as well as its usefulness in civil engineering construction and management processes. This paper gives an overview of Shamen- net and discusses its characteristics via an installation example at a dam.