A remote sensing hardware and software package for monitoring large engineered structures is the fruit of a recent agreement between two California companies.

(Photo courtesy of Trimble)

Global Positioning System vendor Trimble, Sunnyvale, and Sonora-based Condor Earth Technologies Inc. have partnered to offer a GPS-based system to monitor dams, bridges, buildings, oil platforms and power facilities, as well as the movement of landslides, volcanoes and other natural hazards.

Condor's 3D Tracker software will use Trimble's survey-grade GPS receivers to compute millimeter-level 3D positions. Data will be transferredby modem, wireless or network connections to PCs for real-time processing. The software also provides notification by pager, e-mail or cell phone when thresholds are exceeded.