Wireless Active Sensing Platform for Structural Infrastructure Monitoring

Abstract

Embedded sensing for structural health monitoring (SHM) is a rapidly expanding field, propelled by algorithmic advances in SHM and the ever-shrinking size and cost of electronic hardware necessary for its implementation. Although commercial systems are available to perform the relevant tasks, they are usually bulky and/or expensive because of their high degree of general utility to a wider range of applications. As a result, multiple separate devices may be required in order to obtain the same results that could be obtained with an SHM-specific device. This work presents the development and deployment of a versatile, wireless active sensing platform (WASP), designed for the particular needs of embedded sensing for multiscale SHM. The WASP combines the conventional data acquisition ability to record voltage output (e.g. from strain or acceleration transducers) with ultrasonic guided wave-based active sensing, and a seamlessly integrated impedance measurement mode, enabling impedance-based SHM and piezoelectric sensor diagnostics to reduce the potential for false positives in damage identification. The unique combination of sensing modalities makes the WASP an excellent new platform for embedded SHM. The motivation, capabilities, and hardware design for the WASP are reviewed, and deployment examples are presented, each demonstrating an important aspect of embedded sensing for SHM.