Wireless Sensing and Control

Wireless technologies can play a significant role in the monitoring and control of civil structures. Structural sensing and control technologies can benefit in terms of installation cost and time from wireless communication and embedded computing. This paper discusses the development of a low-cost wireless sensing system judiciously designed for civil structures. By incorporating an actuation signal generation interface, the wireless sensing system has the capabilities to perform structural actuation and support structural control applications. Validation tests have been conducted both in the field and in the laboratory to demonstrate the functionalities and performance of the wireless sensing and wireless control units. While wireless sensor networks are ideally suited for monitoring and control of global structural system, there is a need for sensors installed at the component-level to monitor structures for localized damage phenomena such as cracking and corrosion. Towards this end, this paper describes a passive RFID sensors for strain and pH monitoring applications using a layer-by-layer (LbL) self-assembled carbon nanotube-polyelectrolyte composite thin-film. Wireless sensor network and wireless short-range point-to-point devices are two emerging wireless technologies that can find many practical applications in structural engineering