Design of Wireless Sensor Nodes for Structural Health Monitoring Applications

Enabling low-cost distributed monitoring, wireless sensor networks represents an interesting solution for the implementation of st ructural health monitoring systems. This work deals with the design of wireless sensor networks for health monitoring of civil structu res, specifically focusing on node design in relation to the requirements of different structural monitoring application classes. Design problems are analysed with specific reference to a large-scale experimental setup (the long-term structural monitoring of the Basilica S . Maria di Collemaggio, L’Aquila, Italy). Main limitations emerged are highlighted, and adopted solution strategies are ou tlined, both in the case of commercial sensing platform and of full custom solutions. © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of Eurosensors 2014.