Sensor network for structural health monitoring

Structural health monitoring (SHM) uses an array of sensors to continuously monitor a structure to provide an early indication of problems such as damage to the structure from fatigue, corrosion or impact. The use of such a system enables maintenance costs to be reduced, and new structures can be designed to be lighter and more efficient. CSIRO has developed an SHM system for detecting high-velocity impacts in the skin of a structure, such as may occur to space vehicles. The system is a large sensor network containing about two-hundred nodes, each of which contains multiple sensors. The system has been built as a flexible testbed for undertaking research in the use of sensor networks in a wide range of SHM applications. This paper outlines the testbed that has been developed and the research that has been conducted using this testbed.