Real-Time Autonomous System for Structural and Environmental Monitoring of Dynamic Events

TLDR

The system can be used to detect rockfall events on protection barriers, monitor landslides, and assess the integrity of structures such as bridges and buildings. This paper defines and analyzes a complete electronic system for detecting and monitoring stability characteristics in complex structural and environmental scenarios. The autonomous system employs an energy‑harvesting architecture and an auto‑configurable wireless sensor network that collects acceleration, inclination, position, and temperature data, transmitting them to a remote web server for automatic alarm management and data access. The system is currently deployed and operating in multiple experimental sites across Italy.

Abstract

This paper deals with the definition and analysis of a complete electronic system for the detection and monitoring of stability characteristics in complex scenarios such as structural elements or environmental events. For instance, it may be successfully adopted to detect rockfall events on protection barriers, as well as to monitor landslides or the integrity of structures like bridges and buildings. The system is completely autonomous thanks to the implementation of an energy harvesting architecture and realizes a wireless sensor network whose nodes are auto-configurable, making it possible to freely arrange them in situ. The continuously collected data are relative to acceleration, inclination, position, and temperature of each node. These data are transmitted and stored on a remote web server devoted to the automatic management of alarms and accessible for data consulting. The proposed system is currently operating in different experimental fields in Italy.