Improve Everyday Life

Structural test and monitoring are essential to ensuring the stability and integrity of civil and commercial structures. Structural health monitoring (SHM) is emerging as a vital tool to help engineers improve and restore the safety and maintainability of critical structures. By combining a variety of sensing technologies with an embedded measurement controller to capture, log, and analyze real-time data, these systems can reliably monitor and test the health and performance of various structures including bridges, dams, and wind turbines, thereby increasing the safety of these structures and decreasing maintenance costs.

A Prototype for Wireless Monitoring
In 2008, the National Institute of Standards and Technology awarded a multimillion-dollar grant to The University of Texas at Austin (UT), along with National Instruments and Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates Inc., to conduct a five-year research project to develop a system for monitoring steel bridges in the United States. Initial research conducted in 2009 showed that the NI wireless sensor network (WSN) platform could offer reliable wireless sensor networking and provide insight on optimal antenna placement and configuration.

In 2010, NI and UT completed the first prototype of a new wireless sensor node for SHM as part of continued research and development to produce a reliable, low-power strain measurement system capable of delivering the relatively high-speed measurements needed for fatigue life monitoring while minimizing power consumption to preserve battery life, which was a challenging task. Implementation of a new wireless, real-time bridge monitoring system based on these technologies has the potential to transform bridge inspection and maintenance practices for a safer infrastructure.

A Commitment to Structural Health Monitoring Technology
NI is committed to developing new products for emerging technologies. In addition to creating the first prototype of a WSN node for SHM, NI released an optical sensor interrogator for fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors. Taking measurements using electrical sensing technology in harsh environments can often be difficult, dangerous, or impossible. With the new NI optical sensor interrogator, engineers and scientists can safely perform structural measurements in hazardous environments that include power lines, railways, or large bridges.

Also, to meet the measurement needs of the structural engineering community, NI released SC Express, a new family of PXI Express data acquisition modules equipped with integrated signal conditioning for measuring strain gages, bridge-based transducers, thermocouples, and high-voltage analog input signals. Now engineers can achieve better measurement accuracy within higher channel counts without exceeding communication bandwidth.

To ensure structural and civil engineers around the world are equipped for emerging technology and application requirements, NI has committed to continue developing new products that leverage the latest technologies for structural measurements. In addition, NI plans to develop more resources and present at conferences and on-site events in 2011 to educate the structural engineering community on the benefits of SHM and share best practices for real-world applications.