Distributed Wi-Fi-Based System for Monitoring the Condition of Building Structures

This paper presents the development and experimental validation of a Wi-Fi-based distributed system for structural health monitoring of building structures. The proposed system employs a hybrid mesh/ad hoc architecture, enabling autonomous sensor nodes to communicate via IEEE 802.11 without requiring a centralized wired infrastructure. A distributed monitoring architecture, a data transmission algorithm, and a multi-sensor platform integrating distance, magnetometric, and environmental sensors were developed. A mathematical network model was established to analyze the communication characteristics and ensure reliable data exchange in the distributed system. The proposed approach was validated through 500 consecutive experimental measurements and a comparative analysis of wired and wireless data acquisition. The results demonstrated reliable wireless communication without data loss while preserving the temporal characteristics of the measured signals. The distance sensors and the DHT22 temperature sensor achieved the highest agreement with the wired reference based on the MAE and RMSE metrics, whereas the magnetometric sensors and humidity measurements exhibited moderate variability associated with sensor sensitivity and transmission conditions. The obtained results confirm that the proposed Wi-Fi-based distributed architecture provides a stable, scalable, and fault-tolerant solution for structural health monitoring. The developed system can also be adapted for environmental monitoring, energy systems, and other smart infrastructure applications.