Towards rapid and robust measurements of highway structures deformation using a wireless sensing system derived from wired sensors

The use of wireless sensors for bridge assessment has been investigated extensively in the past decades. However, in most field applications, current sensors and sensing systems still rely on wired connectivity for communication and power. This is the case even though tethered sensors require extensive cabling throughout a structure resulting in long installation processes, and their maintenance may increase the total cost of Structural Health Monitoring systems and impede their broader use, especially when rapid infrastructure assessment is needed. One possible explanation of this slow adoption of wireless sensors is the use of sensing units that have not been tested for decades as their wired counterparts. This paper presents a suite of wireless sensors that were developed through the transformation of established wired sensors into wireless units. The objective was to explore whether it was possible to transform such wired sensors into wireless units and then confirm successful transformation with laboratory and field applications. The sensors presented here focus on accurate measurements of displacement, strain, and acceleration with units that are rugged, have a long service life and are used primarily for rapid structural assessment. With this transformation, the authors wanted to accomplish the goal of rapid installation and sensing reuse, and achieve accurate wireless measurements guaranteed by the wired sensors of established sensing vendors. In this study, the wireless sensors were tested first in laboratory conditions along with wired sensors for comparison and then were successfully tested in the field.