Civionics is the combination of civil engineering with electronics engineering, in a manner similar to avionics (aviation and electronics) and mechatronics (mechanical engineering and electronics). An emerging discipline, the main application area of civionics is currently the use of electronics for structural health monitoring (SHM) of civil structures, particularly photonics (Fiber Optic Bragg Grating).
In SHM, Civionics will provide engineers with feedback necessary to aid in optimizing design techniques and understanding infrastructure performance, behaviour and state of condition. The successful integration of intelligent sensing of innovative structures will allow civil structural engineers to expand the design envelope by taking risks to introduce new design concepts, materials and innovation in civil engineering.
Civionic engineering applications include integrating science and technology from both new and traditional disciplines: