The objective of the research is to develop fully autonomous Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system consisting of sensors organically integrated within the structure, free of wire leads and external power sources. Central to the proposed approach are the multi-functional piezoelectric transducer-based smart aggregates, which can transform ambient energy to electricity power, modulate useful information on stress waves for communication, and generate and receive stress waves for detection of structural defects.
Intellectually, the project will advance the knowledge regarding communication over concrete conduits through: i) Measurement-driven characterization of SA transceivers and concrete channels under different loading conditions, and ii) Design of modulation schemes for acoustic communications in concrete channels. The project aims to develop a holistic system solution through: i) the development of energy harvesting and storage modules, in conjunction with low-power circuits, and ii) Design and evaluation of energy-aware task scheduling.
The proposed research is expected to generate far-reaching broader impacts in science, education, and society. Our systems-based research integrates innovative research on hardware, algorithms, and architectures to enable the next generation of cyber systems. It also integrates educational activities in real-life infrastructure building, communications systems, and networking. In the near term, the basic building blocks developed for communication and energy harvesting can help extend existing wireless-based, battery powered systems, making these systems more fault tolerant and energy efficient. In the long term, the project outcomes can provide impetus for wide-spread integration of fully autonomous SHM systems as the technology matures, leading to improved public safety and reduced maintenance costs.
