A Summary Review of Wireless Sensors and Sensor Networks for Structural Health Monitoring

Abstract

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the adoption of emerging sensing technologies for instrumentation within a variety of structural systems. Wireless sensors and sensor networks are emerging as sensing paradigms that the structural engineering field has begun to consider as substitutes for traditional tethered monitoring systems. A benefit of wireless structural monitoring systems is that they are inexpensive to install because extensive wiring is no longer required between sensors and the data acquisition system. Researchers are discovering that wireless sensors are an exciting technology that should not be viewed as simply a substitute for traditional tethered monitoring systems. Rather, wireless sensors can play greater roles in the processing of structural response data; this feature can be utilized to screen data for signs of structural damage. Also, wireless sensors have limitations that require novel system architectures and modes of operation. This paper is intended to serve as a summary review of the collective experience the structural engineering community has gained from the use of wireless sensors and sensor networks for monitoring structural performance and health.

Predicting thermal response of bridges using regression models derived from measurement histories

“…The development of robust and reliable strategies for measurement interpretation is therefore increasingly accepted as central to the practical uptake of structural health monitoring (SHM) [3,4]. Such strategies are also envisioned to be a fundamental element of the future "smart" infrastructures [3,5,6] that are expected to take advantage of recent advances in wireless sensing [7] and energy harvesting technologies [8].…”

Data‐driven post‐earthquake rapid structural safety assessment

“…Despite requiring a minimal number of sensors, such instrumentation can nowadays still be expensive because of the small amplitudes of building oscillations under ambient vibration, which determines the required sensitivity of the sensor. Notwithstanding recent developments in wireless sensor nodes for SHM applications [22][23][24][25][26], the cost of instrumenting one building is currently of the order of thousands of US dollars. However, recent advances in open-source hardware [27,28] such as Raspberry Pi, Ardurinos and MinnoBoard, as well as in microelectromechanical-based sensor technologies [29,30] allows us to expect significant cost reductions.…”

“…One solution would be to use solar panels with a small battery for supplying power, and to use a wireless local area network to enable communication between sensing nodes placed on different buildings. In recent applications, similar approaches have been used to install arrays of sensors on single structures [22][23][24][25]. In dense urban areas, using consumer-grade antennas with a range of 100 m would allow having a redundant communication network across a city.…”

Basic research on machinery fault diagnostics: Past, present, and future trends

“…Moreover, once the cables are damaged, the process of replacing these is often very complicated and may even be impossible in some cases. With technological progress, wireless sensor networks (WSNs), as a new signal collection and transmission technique, can provide an alternative solution to cost-efficient data communication in the fault diagnosis of mechanical equipment [89,90]. The advantages of WSNs are well known: Support from fixed networks is not necessary, countless wireless sensors can be arranged flexibly, and sensor positions in remote locations would be easier to install and maintain.…”