The 4th International workshop on MEMS and sensor system 2020

In Ho Chi Minh City, the biggest urban area in Vietnam, floods badly affect more than 60% of the city’s population and cause billions of dollars of loss every year. With funding from the #Aus4Innovation program, researchers from Griffith University and Saigon Hi-Tech Park (SHTP) Labs are developing an innovative, robust and low-power flood sensor network for HCMC based on the University’s advanced silicon carbide sensor technology.

Hundreds of sensors will act like the city’s nervous system, providing real-time flood information and early warning to its inhabitants via a mobile phone App. The system will help improve local people’s safety as well as help with traffic management and control, reducing human and economic losses. This sensor network is the first step toward an automated response system that will prevent local flooding in the city by using drainage infrastructure to capture, divert or pump storm water.

Today, at the 4th International Workshop on MEMS (Micro-electromechanical system) and Sensor System 2020, the project was presented as a practical demonstration of applied MEMS technology. Speaking at the workshop, Australian Consul-General Ms. Julianne Cowley remarked: “Australia is proud to support the development of practical technology solutions that help to improve Vietnam’s ability to respond to urban flooding. As the system rolls out in HCMC, discussions on commercialising opportunities are underway so the technology can be applied in other Vietnamese cities as well.”