Energy loss in cement-based material for efficient sensor deployment at a site

Abstract

Past construction research has focused primarily on the realization of tracking systems but much less on their effectiveness. Despite significant achievements, little is known about the relationship between the environmental site conditions and deployed sensors and their influence on system effectiveness. To reduce this knowledge gap, we investigate the effect of cement-based material on signal energy loss using electromagnetic simulation. We take conventional electromagnetic equations and derive equations that quantitatively describe the signal behavior influenced by cement-based material. Then, we conduct high frequency structure simulator (HFSS) simulations and use the experimental measurements for benchmark comparison with our analytical solution. Results suggest that our analytical method accurately quantifies attenuated signal loss. Also, we construct an attenuation spectrum of energy loss for cement-based material, which can serve as a reference for sensor deployment. Therefore, the method should enable quantification of the signal loss of sensors without actually deploying them or measuring signal data, which should lead to the more effective deployment of tracking sensors.