On April 18th, Wavelogix’s Luna Lu was presented the Gold Edison Award in the Critical Human Infrastructure category for Wavelogix’s REBEL Concrete Strength Sensing System.
The Edison Awards, considered the Oscars of Innovation, are given annually to recognize the persistence and excellence that also characterized Thomas Edison’s work. Previous winners include Honeywell, GoPro, General Motors, and 3M.
Luna Lu serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Wavelogix, and is the Purdue University Reilly Professor of Civil Engineering. Lu has led the development of concrete strength sensor technology at Purdue since 2017, working in conjunction with the Indiana DOT. That work led to the invention of a concrete strength sensor that can measure the strength of freshly poured concrete in real time, and convey when the concrete pavement is strong enough for highway traffic. The strength sensors are embedded in the concrete as it’s placed.
In 2021, Luna Lu founded Wavelogix as a sales and marketing firm for the sensors, and on December 1, 2023, the REBEL Concrete Strength Sensing System hit the market. Wavelogix licenses the system technology from the Purdue Innovates Office of Technology Commercialization.
Currently, the sensors are also being tested and developed for use in bridges and airport runways, with the benefit of speeding up construction schedules thanks to the strength-confirming data that the sensors deliver.
The REBEL System garnered recognition by TIME magazine as one of the Best Inventions of 2023. Fast Company named it one of its Next Big Things in Tech for 2022, and the American Society of Civil Engineers selected the technology as one of its “Gamechangers” for 2021.
More than half of the nation’s states with concrete interstate pavement systems are currently participating in an FHWA study to implement the sensor system, including California, Utah, Colorado, North Dakota, Kansas, Tennessee, Missouri, and Indiana.
On Wednesday, October 23rd, Luna Lu will present the REBEL Concrete Strength Sensing System at the 22nd Annual Nevada Infrastructure Concrete Conference – NICC 2024 – hosted by SWCPA and the California Nevada Cement Association, in conjunction with the Nevada Department of Transportation.