SENSORS: Low cost wireless state sensors for civil infrastructure

University Of Texas At Austin, Austin TX

Investigators

Abstract

This project aims at developing a completely new class of sensors for civil infrastructures. The research team plans to develop a series of novel state sensors that are economical and greatly enhance the information available during a routine inspection of a structural system. Two classes of sensors are planned: threshold sensors and analog sensors. Both will be designed to be economical, rely on wireless transmission of data, and will require no on-board power supply. For both classes, wireless interrogation allows the sensors to be hermetically sealed to reduce the likelihood of sensor deterioration due to environmental exposure. The objective is to provide the owner of the structure the flexibility to select the measurand and match the capabilities of the state sensor with the expected performance of the structural system. The sensors may also be used to characterize the behavior of complex structural systems. The uses envisioned for the state sensors in the proposed research include measuring acceleration, corrosion, strain, temperature, and crack propagation. The state sensors must be durable, low-cost, reliable, and must not rely on exhaustible power supplies in order to provide useful information about the condition of civil infrastructure. The decisions to rely on a wireless communications channel to transmit information from the state sensors and not to use a battery to power the state sensors influence the amount and type of data that can be collected from the sensors. To meet the criteria discussed above, the research team has already studied prototype sensors designed to provide binary information about the presence of damage at the location of the sensor using an unpowered, wirelessly sensed device. Providing a wider range of sensed variables while increasing the amount of information transmitted by the sensors are the primary goals of the research proposed here. This is a NSF 03-512 award.