Interconnecting Smart Objects with IP

Chapter 25

Structural Health Monitoring

25.1 Introduction

The world is full of stationary structures — some small, some huge, others new, most of them very old — such as buildings, damns, or bridges. Buildings include office complexes, apartment buildings, or power plants. The commonality between these large structures is that they are critical in everyone’s day-to-day life: bridges are used by pedestrians, cars, trucks, and trains and millions of people live in buildings. Any damage in these structures may result in life-threatening situations and serious financial loss. Thus, monitoring the health of these structures with smart object networks is imperative to detect any irregularities or anomalies that could be a sign of damage and lead to problems ...