NEC technology calculates landslide risk

*** For immediate use April 13, 2015


Tokyo, April 13, 2015 - NEC Corporation (NEC; TSE: 6701) today announced that it has developed a new technology that enables the highly accurate, real-time calculation of landslide risk by analyzing the amount of moisture in the soil.

Conventionally, in order to calculate the landslide risk of hillsides it was necessary to obtain data regarding the state of the surrounding soil, including indicators such as the weight, friction of soil, cohesion of the soil and water pressure, which are all subject to change depending on the amount of rainfall. In order it obtain this data in real-time, it was necessary to install dedicated sensors beneath the ground for each one of these indicators.

Moreover, geological surveys and construction work to protect against landslides are both time consuming and expensive for local authorities to implement.

NEC's technology makes it possible to conveniently calculate multiple data-indices from just the amount of moisture contained in the soil, and to perceive the risk level of the slope in real-time, with a high degree of accuracy. This technique enables a slope's risk level to be calculated using approximately 1/3 the number of sensors required conventionally, making it possible to install sensors over a wider area at a similar cost to conventional methods. This highly accurate identification of slopes that are at high risk of a landslide helps provide sufficient time for the evacuation and safety of local residents by contributing to the speedy issuance of evacuation advisories and/or evacuation orders.

"Testing of this technique indicated a high risk of landslide approximately 10 to 40 minutes prior to an actual slope collapsing. Moving forward, NEC will continue to advance testing of this technology in collaboration with local governments, universities and research institutions, with the aim of achieving a commercial application during FY2015," said NEC's Kazuo Watanabe, Deputy General Manager, Fire and Disaster Prevention Solutions Division.

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