In this article we present a wireless sensor network to monitor the structural health of a large-scale highway bridge in Germany. The wireless sensor network consists of several sensor nodes that use wake-up receivers to realize latency free and low-power communication. The sensor nodes are either equipped with very accurate tilt sensor developed by Northrop Grumman LITEF GmbH or with a Novatel OEM615 GNSS receiver. Relay nodes are required to forward measurement data to a base station located on the bridge. The base station is a gateway that transmits the local measurement data to a remote server where it can be further analyzed and processed. Further on, we present an energy harvesting system to supply the energy demanding GNSS sensor nodes to realize long term monitoring.

Date Published: 15 April 2016
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 9804, Nondestructive Characterization and Monitoring of Advanced Materials, Aerospace, and Civil Infrastructure 2016, 98041S (15 April 2016); doi: 10.1117/12.2222036

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9804:
Nondestructive Characterization and Monitoring of Advanced Materials, Aerospace, and Civil Infrastructure 2016
Tzuyang Yu; Andrew L. Gyekenyesi; Peter J. Shull; H. Felix Wu, Editor(s)