The Design of a Wireless Sensing Unit for Structural Health Monitoring

Abstract

Structural monitoring systems used in practice employ conventional cables to communicate sensor measurements to a centralized data acquisition unit. Cabled based systems have high installation costs and leave wires vulnerable to ambient signal noise corruption. In addressing these inherent drawbacks, a modular wireless monitoring system is proposed. Such a system promises lower capital and installation costs simultaneously ensuring reliable communication between sensing units. A proof-of-concept sensing unit has been designed and fabricated using standard integrated circuit components and wireless modem technology. Employing an enhanced RISC microcontroller, the sensing unit has powerful computational capabilities for data aggregation and processing. The sensing unit is flexible in its design by allowing any analog sensor to be used. Two MEMS based accelerometers are considered for this study.