Wireless Intelligent Sensor and Actuator Network - A Scalable Platform for Time-synchronous Applications of Structural Health Monitoring

Abstract

Wireless sensor networks have attracted attention as a possible solution for applications of periodic and continuous structural health monitoring. Ensuring synchronous data acquisition across wireless nodes in large networks of sensors spatially distributed on a structure is of critical importance for many methods of structural health monitoring, especially those based on analysis of vibration. In this article we present a novel Wireless Intelligent Sensor and Actuator Network (WISAN) addressing the issue of scalability for applications of structural health monitoring. We also present a novel time synchronization algorithm that can keep the synchronization error between any number of globally distributed sensors nodes less than AE23 ms. We show proof of stability for the time synchronization algorithm. We validate WISAN in laboratory experiments, testing the actual time synchronization between randomly selected sensors in a complex network. Finally, we validate WISAN in a field experiment by reconstructing mode shapes of a highway bridge.

Wireless Measurement System for Structural Health Monitoring With High Time-Synchronization Accuracy

“…This system is able to synchronize the hardware clocks with a resolution of within 100 ns [8]. This solution increases the cost and power consumption of the WN's hardware significantly.…”

“…The effect of time-synchronization error on SHM applications is studied in [10]. The most restricted requirement is 120 ¡J>S according to the study in [8].…”

“…Currently developed systems have a synchronization error of between 10 ¡i% and 1 ms [8], [9]. The most widespread wireless systems for SHM studies have chosen the ZigBee radio protocol for its low power consumption and high performance in communications and configurability.…”

Development of a Multitype Wireless Sensor Network for the Large-Scale Structure of the National Stadium in China

“…In recent years, a great deal of research work has been performed on the WSN development. Most of the work focused on the multichannel conflict and time delay problem, which is the key to the synchronization and efficiency of WSN [36][37][38][39]. On the other hand, there is rarely any report for a real-world application of WSN with large amount and type of sensors distributed in a super large-area-scale structure.…”

Design and implementation of wireless sensor networks for impedance-based structural health monitoring using ZigBee and Global System for Mobile Communications

“…wired monitoring systems), the wireless sensor networks (WSNs) hold the promise of revolutionizing sensing in a wide range of application domains because of their reliability, time synchronization, accuracy, flexibility, cost-effectiveness, local data processing, and ease of deployment. Thus, WSNs have been widely explored for use in SHM applications (Araujo et al, 2012;Farrar et al, 2009;Lynch and Loh, 2006;Sazonov et al, 2010;Tanner et al, 2003).…”