Automatized survey, construction, inspection, maintenance, restoration and reconstruction have become challenging activities conducted during the process of cultural heritage and civil infrastructure management, due to the revolutionary impact of mechatronics and information technology in the routine operations. The complete process, framed during the IMPACT project development, considers different aspects related to the interconnection between classical engineering and architectural problems with the emerging technologies related to Automation and Information Communication Technologies (ICT). The impact of new technologies on data acquisition for survey, inspection and monitoring is studied, evidencing how the use of robotized systems and sensor networks determines new sets of available data to be processed by digital tools to build advanced models. The core of the IMPACT project relates to the integration of different information, the so-called data fusion process, aiming to develop powerful numerical 3D models providing an exhaustive and realistic description of the examined facility during its service life. Structural health monitoring, involving the key aspects of structural identification, damage monitoring and mechanical performance assessment, takes advantage of both digital image processing for inspection and defect evaluation and a variety of response measurements based on the available sensing technologies. Data and models provide the basis to identify and describe defects and degradation especially in view of determining possible performance reduction in existing structures. All the acquired knowledge, opportunely managed, constitutes the input for automated or partially automated decision-making process useful in facilities and infrastructure management.
