Structural health monitoring systems are increasingly used for comprehensive fatigue tests and surveillance of large scale structures. In this paper we describe the development and validation of a wireless system for SHM application based on Lamb-waves. The system is based on a wireless sensor network and focuses especially on low power measurement, signal processing and communication. The sensor nodes were realized by compact, sensor near signal processing structures containing components for analog preprocessing of acoustic signals, their digitization and network communication. The core component is a digital microprocessor ARM Cortex-M3 von STMicroelectronics, which performs the basic algorithms necessary for data acquisition synchronization and filtering. The system provides network discovery and multi-hop and self-healing mechanisms. If the distance between two communicating devices is too big for direct radio transmission, packets are routed over intermediate devices automatically. The system represents a low-power and low-cost active structural health monitoring solution. As a first application, the system was installed on a CFRP structure.

Date Published: 29 March 2012
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 8343, Industrial and Commercial Applications of Smart Structures Technologies 2012, 83430B (29 March 2012); doi: 10.1117/12.917306

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8343:
Industrial and Commercial Applications of Smart Structures Technologies 2012
Kevin Farinholt; Steven F. Griffin, Editor(s)