We propose and demonstrate a wireless, passive, metamaterial-based sensor that allows for remotely monitoring submicron displacements over millimeter ranges. The sensor comprises a probe made of multiple nested split ring resonators (NSRRs) in a double-comb architecture coupled to an external antenna in its near-field. In operation, the sensor detects displacement of a structure onto which the NSRR probe is attached by telemetrically tracking the shift in its local frequency peaks. Owing to the NSRR's near-field excitation response, which is highly sensitive to the displaced comb-teeth over a wide separation, the wireless sensing system exhibits a relatively high resolution (<1 μm) and a large dynamic range (over 7 mm), along with high levels of linearity (R2 > 0.99 over 5 mm) and sensitivity (>12.7 MHz/mm in the 1–3 mm range). The sensor is also shown to be working in the linear region in a scenario where it is attached to a standard structural reinforcing bar. Because of its wireless and passive nature, together with its low cost, the proposed system enabled by the metamaterial probes holds a great promise for applications in remote structural health monitoring.

We report remote strain and displacement measurement during elastic and plastic deformation using a metamaterial-based wireless and passive sensor. The sensor is made of a comb-like nested split ring resonator (NSRR) probe operating in the near-field of an antenna, which functions as both the transmitter and the receiver. The NSRR probe is fixed on a standard steel reinforcing bar (rebar), and its frequency response is monitored telemetrically by a network analyzer connected to the antenna across the whole stress-strain curve. This wireless measurement includes both the elastic and plastic region deformation together for the first time, where wired technologies, like strain gauges, typically fail to capture. The experiments are further repeated in the presence of a concrete block between the antenna and the probe, and it is shown that the sensing system is capable of functioning through the concrete. The comparison of the wireless sensor measurement with those undertaken using strain gauges and extensometers reveals that the sensor is able to measure both the average strain and the relative displacement on the rebar as a result of the applied force in a considerably accurate way. The performance of the sensor is tested for different types of misalignments that can possibly occur due to the acting force. These results indicate that the metamaterial-based sensor holds great promise for its accurate, robust and wireless measurement of the elastic and plastic deformation of a rebar, providing beneficial information for remote structural health monitoring and post-earthquake damage assessment.

Terahertz metamaterial structures that employ flexing microelectromechanical cantilevers for tuning the resonance frequency of an electric split-ring resonator are presented. The tuning cantilevers are coated with a magnetic thin-film and are actuated by an external magnetic field. The use of cantilevers enables continuous tuning of the resonance frequency over a large frequency range. The use of an externally applied magnetic field for actuation simplifies the metamaterial structure and its use for sensor or filter applications. A structure for minimizing the actuating field is derived. The dependence of the tunable bandwidth on frequency is discussed.

In this study, we show a wireless passive sensing system embedded in a reinforced concrete member successfully being employed for the measurement of relative displacement and strain in a simply supported beam experiment. The system utilizes electromagnetic coupling between the transceiver antenna located outside the beam, and the sensing probes placed on the reinforcing bar (rebar) surface inside the beam. The probes were designed in the form of a nested split-ring resonator, a metamaterial-based structure chosen for its compact size and high sensitivity/resolution, which is at µm/microstrains level. Experiments were performed in both the elastic and plastic deformation cases of steel rebars, and the sensing system was demonstrated to acquire telemetric data in both cases. The wireless measurement results from multiple probes are compared with the data obtained from the strain gages, and an excellent agreement is observed. A discrete time measurement where the system records data at different force levels is also shown. Practical issues regarding the placement of the sensors and accurate recording of data are discussed. The proposed sensing technology is demonstrated to be a good candidate for wireless structural health monitoring (SHM) of reinforced concrete members by its high sensitivity and wide dynamic range.

Abstract-In this paper, wireless sensing in the presence of complex electromagnetic media created by combinations of reinforcing bars and concrete is investigated. The wireless displacement sensing system, primarily designed for use in structural health monitoring (SHM), is composed of a comb-like nested split-ring resonator (NSRR) probe and a transceiver antenna. Although each complex medium scenario is predicted to have a detrimental effect on sensing in principle, it is demonstrated that the proposed sensor geometry is able to operate fairly well in all scenarios except one. In these scenarios that mimic real-life SHM, it is shown that this sensor exhibits a high displacement resolution of 1 µm, a good sensitivity of 7 MHz/mm in average, and a high dynamic range extending over 20 mm. For the most disruptive scenario of placing concrete immediately behind NSRR, a solution based on employing a separator behind the probe is proposed to overcome the handicaps introduced by the medium. In order to obtain a one-to-one mapping from the measured frequency shift to the displacement, a numerical fit is proposed and used. The effects of several complex medium scenarios on this fit are discussed. These results indicate that the proposed sensing scheme works well in real-life SHM applications.Index Terms-Wireless passive sensor, displacement sensor, strain sensor, nested split ring resonator (NSRR), concrete,

A novel passive wireless rotation sensing system with high levels of sensitivity and resolution is proposed and demonstrated for measuring elastic-region bending in materials such as steel. This system is composed of a transceiver antenna and a double-plate sensor in the form of an inter-digital configuration, which does not incorporate any active component. The sensor exhibits a large rotation resolution of 20 µ-rad, an excellent sensitivity of 28 MHz/°in average, and a large linear dynamic range of approximately 40°. In operation, as a result of the relative rotation between the plates of the sensor, the operating resonance frequency of the system is shifted. This is read out and tracked in the S 11 response of the transceiver antenna from which the rotation angle is determined. The prototype is designed for microwave regime and it is suitable for measuring very small angles (10 −4 ∼ 10 −5 rad). Critical figuresof-merit of the sensor including sensitivity, dynamic range, and resolution are assessed via systematic measurements, and the validity of resolution experiment is verified by employing digital image correlation method for 2-D measurements.

Wireless monitoring of a standard reinforced concrete beam is shown in a simply supported beam experiment. The passive nested split-ring resonator (NSRR) probes are attached on the reinforcing bars (rebars) within the beam, and an antenna interrogates the probes from outside the beam. The results of the experiment show that the plastic deformation region strain/displacement can be detected by the wireless sensing system. The data collected by the system constitutes an important input for the assessment of the damage that can be observed after earthquakes.

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