Feasibility of real-time distributed structural control upon a wireless sensor network

This paper explores the use of a wireless sensor network as an underlying infrastructure for the control of large-scale civil structures (e.g. buildings and bridges). Civil structures are expensive societal assets that can experience damage during strong seismic excitation; control systems are often installed within the structures to reduce deflections. As both sensing and actuation technologies mature, their declining costs are matched with increasing functionality. Wireless communication between sensors would prevent the cost of installing coaxial wires between hundreds of nodes in a structure from overtaking the cost saving offered by today’s low-cost sensing and actuation devices. A control strategy is sought that is consistent with the limitation of current wireless radio technologies including limited ranges, stochastic delays and occasional data loss. To alleviate overuse of the wireless communication channel, a state-estimation framework is implemented upon a partially decentralized network of wireless active sensing units. The real-time performance of the implemented control solution is successfully validated using the semi-actively controlled Kajima-Shizuoka Building.