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Summary Wireless sensor networks are prone to synchronization discrepancies, due to the lack of intrinsic global clock management from a centralized server. In wireless structural health monitoring (SHM) systems, synchronization discrepancies may lead to erroneous estimations of structural parameters of monitored structures. To avoid errors in the estimations of structural parameters, structural response data sets collected from a structure must be synchronized. Synchronization between structural response data sets can be achieved through offline processing. However, in wireless SHM systems, offline processing requires wireless communication of entire structural response data sets, which has been proven detrimental to the power autonomy of wireless sensor nodes. This paper presents an embedded synchronization algorithm for wireless SHM systems. The embedded synchronization algorithm functions as a module added to embedded algorithms performing peak picking, which is part of operational modal analysis, for ensuring accurate outcomes. The embedded synchronization algorithm enables wireless SHM systems to synchronize structural response data sets on board using the embedded computing capabilities of wireless sensor nodes. The synchronization is achieved by imposing the expected relationship between the phase angles of Fourier spectra of acceleration response data sets at peaks corresponding to vibration modes. Time lags are autonomously estimated by the wireless sensor nodes through collaborative analysis of the phase angle relationship between acceleration response data sets collected by different sensor nodes. The embedded synchronization algorithm is implemented into a prototype wireless SHM system with embedded peak picking algorithms and validated by laboratory tests and by ambient vibration tests on a pedestrian bridge.

The reliability and consistency of wireless structural health monitoring (SHM) systems can be compromised by sensor faults, leading to miscalibrations, corrupted data, or even data loss. Several research approaches towards fault diagnosis, referred to as 'analytical redundancy', have been proposed that analyze the correlations between different sensor outputs. In wireless SHM, most analytical redundancy approaches require centralized data storage on a server for data analysis, while other approaches exploit the on-board computing capabilities of wireless sensor nodes, analyzing the raw sensor data directly on board. However, using raw sensor data poses an operational constraint due to the limited power resources of wireless sensor nodes. In this paper, a new distributed autonomous approach towards sensor fault diagnosis based on processed structural response data is presented. The inherent correlations among Fourier amplitudes of acceleration response data, at peaks corresponding to the eigenfrequencies of the structure, are used for diagnosis of abnormal sensor outputs at a given structural condition. Representing an entirely data-driven analytical redundancy approach that does not require any a priori knowledge of the monitored structure or of the SHM system, artificial neural networks (ANN) are embedded into the sensor nodes enabling cooperative fault diagnosis in a fully decentralized manner. The distributed analytical redundancy approach is implemented into a wireless SHM system and validated in laboratory experiments, demonstrating the ability of wireless sensor nodes to selfdiagnose sensor faults accurately and efficiently with minimal data traffic. Besides enabling distributed autonomous fault diagnosis, the embedded ANNs are able to adapt to the actual condition of the structure, thus ensuring accurate and efficient fault diagnosis even in case of structural changes.

In recent years, there has been a growing trend towards wireless sensing technologies in the field of structural health monitoring. However, the inherently limited resources of wireless sensor nodes pose significant constraints to wireless sensor networks in terms of power efficiency and autonomous operation. To this end, several embedded algorithms have been proposed, exploiting the collocation of computational power with sensing modules in an attempt to reduce the size of the data to be wirelessly communicated. This paper presents an embedded computing approach for decentralized condition assessment of civil engineering structures based on numerical models embedded into wireless sensor nodes. The proposed approach consists of two stages. First, a distributed numerical model of the "initial" structural state, comprising coupled partial models of the monitored structure, is generated on-board the wireless sensor nodes. Second, automated identification of structural changes is performed through a comparison of the initial state of the numerical model and a simulated damaged state. For validation, laboratory tests of the proposed approach are performed on a four-story frame structure.

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