Structural health monitoring: Internet of things application

Abstract

We begin to co-exist and interact with smart interconnected devices that are known as the Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT brings new opportunities for our society. Yet, most of the existing Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems are not connected to the IoT. SHM is a system to monitor the structural health of buildings and bridges. In this paper, a complete real-time SHM platform is integrated with the IoT system. The proposed platform consists of a Pro-Trinket microcontroller, NRF transceiver module, Wi-Fi module, and Raspberry Pi. Two piezoelectric sensors are mounted on the structure to collect data continually. A proposed mathematical model is implemented on the Pro-Trinket to detect the health of the structure using the piezoelectric sensors output. If there is any damage, the Pro-Trinket will determine the damage location and size, and send this information to the Raspberry Pi using NRF transceiver. Raspberry Pi acts as a hub to collect the data from many such NRF transceivers located in different locations on the structure. The Raspberry Pi will upload the data to the cloud using a Wi-Fi module. The data will be stored in the cloud and can be checked remotely from any mobile device. The system has been validated using a real test bed in the lab.