New Opportunities for Structural Monitoring : Wireless Active Sensing

ABSTRACT: Recent years has witnessed a growing interest in wireless structural monitoring as a low-cost alternative to tethered monitoring systems. Past work has considered wireless sensors as passive elements in the monitoring system responsible only for collection of response measurements. This paper explores expansion of a wireless sensing unit design to accommodate active sensors which are sensors capable of simultaneous excitation and sensing. Active sensors could improve the reliability of current damage detection procedures. In this study, the design of a novel self-contained wireless active sensing unit is put forth. After fabrication of a prototype, a series of validation tests are conducted to assess unit performance. Piezoelectric actuators mounted to the surface of an aluminum structural element are commanded by the wireless active sensing unit to excite and record the element. To illustrate the capabilities of the wireless active sensing unit computational core, local identification of the piezoelectric-aluminum element input-output system will be performed by fitting of ARX time-series models.

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