RECONASS - Reconstruction and REcovery Planning

In a duration of 42 months (December 2013 - May 2017) and implemented by a consortium of 10 partners from 7 MS, RECONASS prototyped and delivered a holistic monitoring tool for buildings (critical or conventional ones) comprised of a multitude of technological components for assessing the status of the facility during normal operations and after extraordinary ones. RECONASS is positioned across two realms; this of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) and this of Disaster Management and the final outcome is a complete Information System for Crisis Response, Reconstruction and Recovery Planning (Disaster Management Platform, sensors, communications and software assessment modules) towards monitoring buildings. Its primary goal is to provide the stakeholders, be them civil protection agencies, building owners or insurance companies with an accurate, updated and near real-time assessment of the monitored facility’s structural and non-structural status after an explosion, an earthquake or a fire. In more detail, RECONASS delivered a multidisciplinary Information System for Crisis Response, Reconstruction & Recovery Planning by researching, adapting and integrating cutting edge technologies: a) a compact and highly energy efficient local positioning system was prototyped which cooperates, under the deployment of a wide sensor network, with strategically placed strain, acceleration and temperature sensors; b) the aggregation of sensor information is realised by a robust, secure, intelligent and resilient communication module; c) a remote sensing framework complements the aforementioned data extraction methodologies, using air and space borne systems and; d) capitalising on the data derived from above systems, data fusion is enabled and overall structural and non-structural assessments are executed in the interoperable Post Crisis Needs Assessment Tool in regards to Construction Damage and related Needs (PCCDN). Such platform embeds the structural and economic loss and needs assessment modules which output appropriate data for comprehensively depicting (GUI featuring 2D/3D visualisations and a rich set of building information) the end-user with the structure’s status, including external data (e.g. meteorological data, newsfeeds) whilst permitting information exchange among the response, reconstruction and recovery planning agencies.

Application of RECONASS is expected to impact crisis functions and enhance resilience in the below principal ways:
• When RECONASS is monitoring a disaster affected building, relief organizations can begin funding restoration efforts at a much earlier date;
• During Response and Reconstruction phases Emergency Response crews will receive critical information promptly to pinpoint danger and in turn respond in precision;
• When RECONASS is monitoring a disaster affected building, disaster cost is to be reduced by preventing monitored structures from collapsing;
• Knowing functionality of Critical Buildings immediately after the disaster enhances asset utilisation;
• By RECONASS operates, all major recovery stakeholders using it will acquire a common picture of the situation;
• Preparedness may be enhanced, as the RECONASS system may act a simulation software;
• By using RECONASS system in critical buildings, early, effective handling of the reconstruction and recovery process will have long term financial repercussions.

“RECONASS has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no [312718]”