Using sub-giga hertz technology in high sampling rate wireless monitoring systems used in high-rise buildings

Abstract

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems have been increasingly used in Civil Infrastructures to extract reliable information about the integrity and other important parameters of the structure in real-time. Using wireless sensor networks (WSN) in SHM applications has seen exponential growth in the last decade with the introduction of new communication protocols. WSN makes monitoring of structures easy and fast with low-cost involved. However, some structures such as high-rise buildings, are considered difficult for establishing WSN due to the presence of vertical obstructions. Radio waves with low-frequency are widely used in long-range SHM applications and monitoring high-rise buildings. Carrier waves with lower frequencies used in WSN travel over long-range and through obstructions easily compared to waves that are with higher frequency. Even though the range is increased in low-frequency waves, data rate is also reduced with decreasing frequency. In the SHM applications of high-rise buildings, it is not possible to compensate one - data transfer rate and penetrating ability for the other. This paper discusses the applications of Sub-Giga hertz technology and the corresponding performance of the developed WSN. Also, the application of simple and efficient data handling method used to ensure near real-time SHM is discussed in this paper.