Multi-scale Wireless Sensor Networks for Structural Health Monitoring

T. Kijewski-Correa, M. Haenggi, P. Antsaklis

ISHMII 2nd International Conference on Structual Health Monitoring of Intelligent Infrastructure
Shenshen, P.R. of China, Nov. 16-18, 2005.

Abstract—With growing interest in wireless sensor networks and their application to Structural Health Monitoring in Civil Engineering, many important issues including network lifetime and stability, damage detection reliability, and overall effectiveness when using low-cost sensors must be realistically addressed. In response, a multi-scale wireless sensor network is introduced in this study, integrating data from a heterogeneous sensor array for a more robust and effective approach to damage detection. This approach extends the role of the sensor network from simply a means for communication to a technology that can be engineered to improve structural assessment through the interaction of sub-networks fusing data from distributed, heterogeneous sensor arrays. As a secondary benefit, the multi-scale network concept introduced here helps to improve power efficiency, minimize packet loss and latency and eliminate synchronization issues through the use of a decentralized analysis scheme and the activation of sub-networks only in the vicinity of suspected damage.

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