Giatec Scientific

Giatec, world leader in concrete testing technologies, has announced the re-design of their award-winning flagship product, SmartRock™. It is now available to pre-order. It has been re-engineered with game-changing dual temperature monitoring capabilities for mass concrete applications. First announced in February of 2020 at World of Concrete, this re-engineered SmartRock concrete sensor takes concrete testing to a whole new level. In addition to an update in the sensor’s design, activation, installation, and wireless signal range, ‘SmartRock 3’ has been equipped with dual-temperature monitoring capabilities. This enables users to measure temperature values at two locations simultaneously. One temperature probe is located at the tip of the white temperature cable. Another probe is in the body of the sensor where the black transmitter is located. This function allows users to easily monitor temperature differentials between both the concrete’s core and surface for…

Giatec, world leader in concrete testing technologies, has announced that the re-design of its award-winning flagship product SmartRock®, now available to pre-order, has been re-engineered with game-changing dual-temperature monitoring capabilities for mass concrete applications. First announced in February of 2020 at World of Concrete, this latest generation of SmartRock takes concrete testing to a whole new level. In addition to an update in the sensor’s design, activation, installation, and wireless signal range, “SmartRock 3” has been equipped with dual-temperature monitoring capabilities. This enables users to measure temperature values at two locations simultaneously. One temperature probe is located at the tip of the white temperature cable, another in the body of the sensor where the black transmitter is located. This function allows users to easily monitor temperature differentials between the concrete’s core and surface for mass pour applications. “We are very happy with the…

Giatec has announced that the re-design of its flagship product, SmartRock®, has been re-engineered with dual temperature monitoring capabilities for mass concrete applications. In addition to an update in the sensor’s design, activation, installation, and wireless signal range, SmartRock 3 has been equipped with dual-temperature monitoring capabilities. This enables users to measure temperature values at two locations simultaneously. One temperature probe is located at the tip of the white temperature cable, another in the body of the sensor, where the black transmitter is located. This function allows users to easily monitor temperature differentials between the concrete’s core and surface for mass pour applications. “We are very happy with the new dual temperature functionality of the SmartRock 3 sensor. The temperature readings are very precise, helping us to accurately monitor temperature differentials of our mass pours at the surface and center of…

In this video, Giatec’s Aali R. Alizadeh and Sanjeev Dhillon of Procore discuss concrete, technology and the entrepreneurial journey. Watch this interview for insight into the future of concrete construction, Giatec’s company culture, and tips on how to achieve entrepreneurial success.

Measuring Concrete Quality Monitoring concrete quality is essential to understanding the design and service life of concrete and is critical for decision making on any worksite. Despite this, gathering and analyzing concrete conditions and health properties is a complex and laborious process that can lead to costly use of resources and time-consuming challenges. Current concrete quality measurement solutions are restricted by their sensor technology requiring users to be physically onsite to gather data. The user has to stand close to the sensor inside a building transferring data onto their phone using Bluetooth®. This demands constant travel to locations, making constant real time monitoring an impossibility. Information When You Need It, From Anywhere Looking for a more convenient solution, Giatec developed new sensors equipped with advanced wireless communication technologies. Like its Bluetooth® counterparts, these sensors are designed to be fully embedded…

Giatec, world leader in concrete testing technologies, is excited to be celebrating their 10-year anniversary. Co-founded in 2010 by Dr. Pouria Ghods, CEO, and Dr. Aali Alizadeh, CTO, Giatec has been revolutionizing the construction industry by bringing smart IoT-based technologies and real-time data collection to the forefront of every jobsite. Giatec has been recognized by the Best Ottawa Business Awards, in Canadian Business and Macleans’ Growth 500 list of Canada’s Fastest-Growing Companies, and as one of Canada’s Top Growing Companies by The Globe and Mail multiple years in a row. The company is also renowned for their product innovation, having won numerous awards from top industry associations, such as; the American Concrete Institute and the National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE). Over the past decade, Dr. Ghods and Dr. Alizadeh have grown their company from a small incubator space at Invest Ottawa to a global company with…

As a general contractor or subcontractor working on a concrete structure, one of the most important tasks is ensuring that the concrete has been properly cured and its quality has been tested according to applicable standards. This is of the utmost importance for quality control and quality assurance purposes. Equally important is selecting an appropriate and accurate method for monitoring the strength of in-place concrete. Unfortunately, popular methods of testing concrete quality, especially compressive strength, are frequently subject to discrepancies. Cylinder Break Tests If the project is anything like most other concrete construction sites, break tests are likely used to monitor the strength of newly placed concrete. This practice has remained mostly unchanged since the early 19th century. There are two types of specimens that field technicians collect to test the strength of concrete: standard-cured cylinders and field-cured cylinders. These…

Breaking concrete cylinders to test the compressive strength of concrete is standard practice for a reason. It’s relatively simple, cheap and when done right, accurately reflects strength. At the same time, break tests have changed little for decades and this lack of innovation is catching up with the commonplace method. Propelled by lower cost electronic components and improved connectivity, a new wave of wireless sensors, capable of delivering the same metrics as break tests — but doing so in real-time — is carving out an increasing share of the market. Not needing a technician to collect field-test cylinders and lug them to the lab is just one small part of the value proposition, says Aali Alizadeh, co-founder, president and CTO of Ottawa-based Giatec Scientific Inc. The company first introduced its SmartRock sensor five years ago and the tiny wireless devices…

SmartRock®, created by Giatec Scientific, is a cost-cutting, time-saving solution for concrete testing. Waterproof, wireless sensors measure the strength and temperature of concrete while it cures, greatly reducing reliance on third-party concrete testing agencies.  A sensor is tied to the reinforcing steel before a concrete pour, to measure the temperature before and as the concrete flows over it. SmartRock® then provides real-time strength readings of the concrete to mobile devices via Bluetooth®, allowing project teams to determine when it is possible to strip and climb the concrete formwork.  “SmartRock delivers the swift, efficient testing that we need to stay on track,” says superintendent Shawn Kitt. “It’s put everyone’s mind at ease because it shows us how long the concrete will take to fully cure and eliminates the risk of human error associated with gathering test samples.” SmartRock is accepted by…

Ottawa’s name, taken from the Algonquin word for “trade,” tells you almost everything you need to know about the city and the area—in terms of its present and its history. While Canada’s capital maintains its ties to the past through world-class museums like the National Gallery of Canada; landmarks like Parliament Hill and the Rideau Canal; and attractions like ByWard Market and Gatineau Park, a group of Ottawa-based innovators—from all industries and organizations of all sizes—is pointing the way forward. They may be scattered across Ottawa, but we’re collecting them into one exquisite volume: INNOVATE™ Ottawa, Volume 1. Currently out as an e-book and a sister volume to INNOVATE™ Montreal, INNOVATE™ Ottawa is a tech-enabled coffee-table book featuring the champions of the capital, the well-established and the disruptors alike. Its 200+ pages feature stories by the companies who are shaping…

World Highways Magazine has featured Giatec in their June 2020 issue. The article – Testing: new tech, old problems and business moves looks at how our Artificial Intelligence (AI) program Roxi ™ and SmartRock® can improve the construction industry by adding quality and efficiency. Co-Founder, President and CTO Aali R. Alizadeh explains how Roxi™ works and describes the process to create the program.  

Giatec, world leader in concrete testing technologies, has announced that their SmartRock® Plus program for ready-mix concrete producers has continued to expand in the United States with the signing of Lauren Concrete. As a value-added solution offered by high-quality ready-mix producers, SmartRock Plus enables contractors to see concrete temperature and strength data in real-time using Giatec’s SmartRock wireless sensors. Lauren Concrete has 23 batch plants throughout Texas where they produce and deliver concrete materials throughout the state. The company relies on advanced technology to deliver high-quality products, like Giatec’s SmartRock Plus program. Furthermore, they have also partnered with CarbonCure Technologies which supplies speciality mixes that reduce CO2 emissions. Conventionally, contractors are left to their own methods for monitoring the curing conditions and quality of their concrete mixes. This usually involves the use of time-consuming and error-prone break tests, or cumbersome wired sensors….

A solid foundation built on a state-of-the-art product that’s stayed in demand throughout the COVID-19 pandemic has helped one of Ottawa’s hottest tech firms weather the virus-fuelled economic storm, its CEO says. While revenues at Giatec Scientific are now projected to rise at only half the rate he originally forecast at the beginning of fiscal 2020, Pouria Ghods says that will still put the firm well into double-digit growth territory ​– a level of success many companies can only dream of. Giatec Scientific, which makes high-tech sensors that test the quality of concrete, has been a fixture on lists of the capital’s fastest-growing companies for the past several years. Ghods, who co-founded the enterprise a decade ago, concedes he was uncertain how the pandemic would affect sales of Giatec’s products.  Although international sales have taken a hit as the construction industry…

Giatec is driving breakthrough innovations in the concrete industry, bringing real-time data on concrete performance to the forefront of every construction jobsite. Their suite of hardware and software products, including nondestructive testing technologies, IoT solutions, and wireless sensors, analyze data throughout concrete’s life cycle, helping to build structures faster, safer, and more economically. Concrete is the second most consumed material in the world next to water. As its ingredients are readily available and can be easily formed into any shape, concrete has been the preferred material for building high-rise structures, bridges, roads, dams, and more. Throughout its life cycle, concrete’s properties and performance need to be closely monitored. This is to ensure critical decisions can be made by different stakeholders, including concrete producers, contractors, engineers, and owners of infrastructures. Construction companies are continually looking for solutions to increase efficiency on…

An artificial intelligence program developed by Canadian concrete technology company Giatec is officially up to speed on detecting errors in concrete maturity calibrations and mix proportions. Roxi, which was developed in conjunction with the Montreal Institute of Learning Algorithms (Mila), was first introduced last year. A new update released this March allows it to uncover possible human errors may occur when concrete mixes are set up for maturity calibration. Once it spots an issue, it offers suggestions to correct calibration data. The AI assistant has access to million of data points from Giatec’s SmartRock sensors and the team collaborated with a range of concrete companies to train Roxi in mix calibration verification.