Design and validation of a wireless sensor node for long term structural health monitoring

The work deals with the design, implementation and validation of a battery powered wireless sensing platform for long term structural health monitoring. The platform (WESTmote) has been developed for use in a real world target application, a minimum two-year long post-earthquake crack monitoring campaign of a monumental building (the Basilica S. Maria di Collemaggio in L'Aquila, Italy). WESTmote is primarily oriented to the execution of strain and deformation measurements in harsh environments and natively supports resistive sensors interfacing. Low energy driven design, along with network robustness oriented software architecture, including communication stack and measurement related functions, are deeply analyzed. Flexibility of developed architecture for use in different monitoring scenarios is discussed. Finally, a detailed evaluation of proposed platform performances and lifetime based on experimental validation is presented.