Low-Cost Sensors Accuracy Study and Enhancement Strategy

Abstract

Today, low-cost sensors in various civil engineering sectors are gaining the attention of researchers due to their reduced production cost and their applicability to multiple nodes. Low-cost sensors also have the advantage of easily connecting to low-cost microcontrollers such as Arduino. A low-cost, reliable acquisition system based on Arduino technology can further reduce the price of data acquisition and monitoring, which can make long-term monitoring possible. This paper introduces a wireless Internet-based low-cost data acquisition system consisting of Raspberry Pi and several Arduinos as signal conditioners. This study investigates the beneficial impact of similar sensor combinations, aiming to improve the overall accuracy of several sensors with an unknown accuracy range. The paper then describes an experiment that gives valuable information about the standard deviation, distribution functions, and error level of various individual low-cost sensors under different environmental circumstances. Unfortunately, these data are usually missing and sometimes assumed in numerical studies targeting the development of structural system identification methods. A measuring device consisting of a total of 75 contactless ranging sensors connected to two microcontrollers (Arduinos) was designed to study the similar sensor combination theory and present the standard deviation and distribution functions. The 75 sensors include: 25 units of HC-SR04 (analog), 25 units of VL53L0X, and 25 units of VL53L1X (digital).

Low-Cost Wireless Structural Health Monitoring of Bridges

“…It is seen through laboratory experiments that when the input power is insufficient, the fluctuation is unsteady. This insufficient input power can be due to low speed of the used USB wire, the long length of the USB cable, the imperfection of the used power bank, or simply using a power source that cannot provide 2.5 A and 5 V [ 9 ].…”

“…For measuring the structural responses (such as deflections, strains, rotation, temperature, humidity, and accelerations) over time, sensors are widely used in SHM systems [ 9 , 10 ]. The recorded information of the sensors is then used for structural performance estimations [ 11 , 12 , 13 ].…”

Analisis Karakteristik Sensor Laser Sebagai Pengukur Lebar Rel Kereta Api

“…Kalibrasi dilakukan dengan membandingkan jarak aktual dari pengukuran alat ukur laser distance meter dengan pembacaan sensor laser TOF 10120. Kalibrasi dilakukan di tempat yang sama lebih akurat dan memiliki kebisingan yang lebih sedikit [16]. Variasi jarak yang digunakan antara 100 mm hingga 200 mm atau jarak optimal dimiliki sensor [13].…”

“…Fenomena yang terjadi di lapangan yaitu terjadi getaran antara roda dan rel kereta api yang mengakibatkan hasil data pembacaan sensor yang ekstrim (noise). Karakteristik sensor laser TOF 10120 sensitif terhadap warna permukaan objek atau reflektor [16]. Untuk meminimalisir noise tersebut digunakan kalman filter [9].…”

A Novel Wireless Low-Cost Inclinometer Made from Combining the Measurements of Multiple MEMS Gyroscopes and Accelerometers

“…Structural health monitoring (SHM) has attracted the attention of engineers over past decades as a control system to measure the structural response of structural elements to prevent future potential failures in civil infrastructures. A number of factors and situations such as construction defects, fatigue and environmental factors might decrease the structure’s serviceability and safety over time [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. Therefore, monitoring and assessing structures’ health state throughout their life cycle is essential to minimize the future reparation costs and to confirm the structural safety and serviceability [ 4 , 5 ].…”