Design Of A Bridge Structural Integrity Wireless Monitoring System For Computer Engineering Education
- Conference
- Location
-
Austin, Texas
- Publication Date
-
June 14, 2009
- Start Date
-
June 14, 2009
- End Date
-
June 17, 2009
- ISSN
-
2153-5965
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
-
Computers in Education
- Page Count
-
15
- Page Numbers
-
14.417.1 - 14.417.15
- DOI
-
10.18260/1-2--4776
- Permanent URL
-
https://peer.asee.org/4776
- Download Count
-
380
Paper Authors
Yoon Kim Virginia State University
YOON G. KIM is a faculty member of the Computer Engineering Program in the Engineering Department at Virginia State University. He earned his M.S. and D.Sc. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis in 2000 and 2005, respectively. He has over 11 years of industrial experience in the area of telecommunication systems. His research interests include Internet traffic engineering, Wireless Sensor Networks, Embedded Systems and data acquisition.
Shahzad Akbar Virginia State University
SHAHZAD AKBAR received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University and his
MS from MIT. He has many years of industrial Research and Development experience at IBM
Microelectronics, Sematech, DuPont, Hewlett-Packard and Siemens. Presently, he is a faculty
member of the Computer Engineering Program in the Engineering Department at Virginia State University.
Abstract
NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract
Design of a Bridge Structural Integrity Wireless Monitoring System for Computer Engineering Education
Abstract
A wireless sensors based system is designed for computer engineering students to remotely monitor the structural integrity of a truss metal bridge model. Triple axes accelerometers are attached to the trusses of the bridge such that the vibrations due to the bridge movements can be transmitted wirelessly using 2.4 GHz signals. The system then collects and analyzes the signals with a receiver attached to a computer. Data logging of the bridge vibrations is implemented using a multi-sensor data link to routinely collect the normal waveform patterns when an impulse impact is applied to the bridge. Using the Fast Fourier transform MATLAB program, analysis of the waveforms yields a definite shift in the characteristic signature, when one or more of the bridge truss joints are intentionally compromised. Consequently, this simple but effective technique can be employed to monitor the structural integrity of bridges routinely using this system. When a characteristic frequency shift is detected, the wireless monitoring may be supplemented with visual inspections, to warn the bridge safety personnel and users of imminent bridge deficiency. The designed system provides a good opportunity for our Computer Engineering students to culminate their technical education in a Senior Design Project using their knowledge of Signals and Systems as well as Communications and Electronics. By participating in this project, the students successfully implement the knowledge learned in courses on frequency domain analysis, impulse response, signal amplification, and physical vibrations to electrical signal conversion.
Introduction
Bridge integrity is an issue of national priority following the Minnesota bridge collapse1, shown in Figure 1 and the subsequent publicity that a significant percentage of the nation’s bridges are in need of repair2.
Figure 1: Collapse of the Minneapolis, MN Bridge 1
Kim, Y., & Akbar, S. (2009, June), Design Of A Bridge Structural Integrity Wireless Monitoring System For Computer Engineering Education Paper presented at 2009 Annual Conference & Exposition, Austin, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--4776
ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2009 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015