As builders of infrastructure burrow below grade, the stakes grow higher. Underground conditions aren't always clear before excavation, and irregularities can prove costly, slowing progress on projects valued in the billions of dollars. As a result, industry and academia are investigating new technologies, including greater automation of tunneling systems and the imaging of terrain that lies ahead of them, to ensure operations proceed as efficiently and safely as possible. Particularly challenging are the multiple moving parts and attendant monitoring involved in excavating larger underground tunnels. Tunnel-boring machines (TBMs)-the massive, wormlike systems that chew through earth to create openings for rail, road, water, wastewater, utility systems and the like-produce continuous streams of sensor-generated data as they navigate complex, shifting ground conditions, sometimes hundreds of feet beneath the earth's surface.
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