• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.12 no.3_4
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• pp.381-397
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• 2013

In this paper, wireless health monitoring of stay cables using piezoelectric strain sensors and a smart skin technique is presented. For the cables, tension forces are estimated to examine their health status from vibration features with consideration of temperature effects. The following approaches are implemented to achieve the objective. Firstly, the tension force estimation utilizing the piezoelectric sensor-embedded smart skin is presented. A temperature correlation model to recalculate the tension force at a temperature of interest is designed by correlating the change in cable's dynamic features and temperature variation. Secondly, the wireless health monitoring system for stay cables is described. A piezoelectric strain sensor node and a tension force monitoring software which is embedded in the sensor are designed. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed monitoring technique is evaluated on stay cables of the Hwamyung Grand Bridge in Busan, Korea.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.448-452
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• 2007

Many industrial operations require continuous or nearly-continuous operation of machines, which if interrupted can result in significant financial loss. The condition monitoring of these machines has received considerable attention recent years. Rapid developments in semiconductor, computing, and communication with a remote site have led to a new generation of sensor called "smart" sensors which are capable of wireless communication with a remote site. The purpose of this research is the development of smart sensor using which can on-line perform condition monitoring. This system is addressed to detect conditions that may lead to equipment failure when it is running. Moreover it will reduce condition monitoring expense using low cost MEMS accelerometer. This sensor can receive data in real-time or periodic time from MEMS accelerometer. Furthermore, this system is capable for signal preprocessing task (High Pass Filter, Low Pass Filter and Gain Amplifier) and analog to digital converter (A/D) which is controlled by CPU. A/D converter that converts 10bit digital data is used. This sensor communicates with a remote site PC using TCP/IP protocols. Wireless LAN contain IEEE 802.11i-PSK or WPA (PSK, TKIP) encryption. Developed sensor executes performance tests for data acquisition accuracy estimations.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers P
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• v.64 no.2
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• pp.50-56
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• 2015

This paper presents a smart monitoring technique for photovoltaic power systems by using wire and wireless communication networks in which the RS-232/484 and the Zigbee communication networks are inherently established respectively. In the proposed monitoring systems, environmental data sequences and the output power measured by sensors in photovoltaic systems are transferred to PC systems via two communication networks. We made electronic hardware boards for sensors and communication networks to construct its real-time monitoring system and carry out experiments for demonstrating reliability of the proposed monitoring system.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2017

The operation of subway trains induces secondary structure-borne vibrations in the nearby underground spaces. The vibration, along with the associated noise, can cause annoyance and adverse physical, physiological, and psychological effects on humans in dense urban environments. Traditional tethered instruments restrict the rapid measurement and assessment on such vibration effect. This paper presents a novel approach for Wireless Smart Sensor (WSS)-based autonomous evaluation system for the subway train-induced vibrations. The system was implemented on a MEMSIC's Imote2 platform, using a SHM-H high-sensitivity accelerometer board stacked on top. A new embedded application VibrationLevelCalculation, which determines the International Organization for Standardization defined weighted acceleration level, was added into the Illinois Structural Health Monitoring Project Service Toolsuite. The system was verified in a large underground space, where a nearby subway station is a good source of ground excitation caused by the running subway trains. Using an on-board processor, each sensor calculated the distribution of vibration levels within the testing zone, and sent the distribution of vibration level by radio to display it on the central server. Also, the raw time-histories and frequency spectrum were retrieved from the WSS leaf nodes. Subsequently, spectral vibration levels in the one-third octave band, characterizing the vibrating influence of different frequency components on human bodies, was also calculated from each sensor node. Experimental validation demonstrates that the proposed system is efficient for autonomously evaluating the subway train-induced ambient vibration of underground spaces, and the system holds the potential of greatly reducing the laboring of dynamic field testing.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.6 no.5_6
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• pp.641-659
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• 2010

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) gradually becomes a technique for ensuring the health and safety of civil infrastructures and is also an important approach for the research of the damage accumulation and disaster evolving characteristics of civil infrastructures. It is attracting prodigious research interests and the active development interests of scientists and engineers because a great number of civil infrastructures are planned and built every year in mainland China. In a SHM system the sheer number of accompanying wires, fiber optic cables, and other physical transmission medium is usually prohibitive, particularly for such structures as offshore platforms and long-span structures. Fortunately, with recent advances in technologies in sensing, wireless communication, and micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS), wireless sensor technique has been developing rapidly and is being used gradually in the SHM of civil engineering structures. In this paper, some recent advances in the research, development, and implementation of wireless sensors for the SHM of civil infrastructures in mainland China, especially in Dalian University of Technology (DUT) and Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), are introduced. Firstly, a kind of wireless digital acceleration sensors for structural global monitoring is designed and validated in an offshore structure model. Secondly, wireless inclination sensor systems based on Frequency-hopping techniques are developed and applied successfully to swing monitoring of large-scale hook structures. Thirdly, wireless acquisition systems integrating with different sensing materials, such as Polyvinylidene Fluoride(PVDF), strain gauge, piezoresistive stress/strain sensors fabricated by using the nickel powder-filled cement-based composite, are proposed for structural local monitoring, and validating the characteristics of the above materials. Finally, solutions to the key problem of finite energy for wireless sensors networks are discussed, with future works also being introduced, for example, the wireless sensor networks powered by corrosion signal for corrosion monitoring and rapid diagnosis for large structures.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.4 no.5
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• pp.531-548
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• 2008

Recently, dense sensor instrumentation for structural health monitoring has motivated the need for novel passive wireless sensors that do not require a portable power source, such as batteries. Using a layer-by-layer self-assembly process, nano-structured multifunctional carbon nanotube-based thin film sensors of controlled morphology are fabricated. Through judicious selection of polyelectrolytic constituents, specific sensing transduction mechanisms can be encoded within these homogenous thin films. In this study, the thin films are specifically designed to change electrical properties to strain and pH stimulus. Validation of wireless communications is performed using traditional magnetic coil antennas of various turns for passive RFID (radio frequency identification) applications. Preliminary experimental results shown in this study have identified characteristic frequency and bandwidth changes in tandem with varying strain and pH, respectively. Finally, ongoing research is presented on the use of gold nanocolloids and carbon nanotubes during layer-by-layer assembly to fabricate highly conductive coil antennas for wireless communications.

• Information and Communications Magazine
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.79-85
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• 2013

By interacting with external wireless sensors, smartphones can gather high-fidelity data on the surrounding environment to develop various environment-aware, personalized applications. In this work we introduce the sensor virtualization module (SVM), which virtualizes external sensors so that smartphone applications can easily utilize a large number of external sensing resources. Implemented on the Android platform, our SVM simplifies the management of external sensors by abstracting them as virtual sensors to provide the capability of resolving conflicting data requests from multiple applications and also allowing sensor data fusion for data from different sensors to create new customized sensors elements. We envision our SVM to open the possibilities of designing novel personalized smartphone applications.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.631-646
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• 2016

Although the deployment of wireless sensors for structural sensing and monitoring is becoming popular, supplying power to these sensors remains as a daunting task. To address this issue, there have been large volume of ongoing energy harvesting studies that aimed to find a way to scavenge energy from surrounding ambient energy sources such as vibration, light and heat. In this study, a magnetic resonance based wireless power transfer (MR-WPT) system is proposed so that sensors inside a concrete structure can be wirelessly powered by an external power source. MR-WPT system offers need-based active power transfer using an external power source, and allows wireless power transfer through 300-mm thick reinforced concrete with 21.34% and 17.29% transfer efficiency at distances of 450 mm and 500 mm, respectively. Because enough power to operate a typical wireless sensor can be instantaneously transferred using the proposed MR-WPT system, no additional energy storage devices such as rechargeable batteries or supercapacitors are required inside the wireless sensor, extending the expected life-span of the sensor.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.299-320
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• 2007

Smart sensors densely distributed over structures can provide rich information for structural monitoring using their onboard wireless communication and computational capabilities. However, issues such as time synchronization error, data loss, and dealing with large amounts of harvested data have limited the implementation of full-fledged systems. Limited network resources (e.g. battery power, storage space, bandwidth, etc.) make these issues quite challenging. This paper first investigates the effects of time synchronization error and data loss, aiming to clarify requirements on synchronization accuracy and communication reliability in SHM applications. Coordinated computing is then examined as a way to manage large amounts of data.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.627-633
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• 2008

The technologies for wireless communication, sensing, and computation are each progressing at faster and faster rates. Notably, they are also being combined for an amazingly large multiplicative effect. It can be envisioned that the world will eventually be covered by networks of networks of smart sensors and actuators. This fact will give rise to revolutionary applications. However, to make this vision a reality, many research challenges must be overcome. This paper describes a representative set of new applications and identifies several key research challenges.