Risk Monitoring of Buildings Using Wireless Sensor Network

N. Kurata
Planning Section, Kobori Research Complex, Kajima Corporation, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 107-8502, Japan

B.F. Spencer, Jr.

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana,
IL, 61801, USA

M. Ruiz-Sandoval
Department of Civil and Geological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA

ABSTRACT: A risk monitoring of buildings for natural and man-made hazards mitigation is discussed in
this paper. Ubiquitous monitoring using a network of wireless sensors is one of the most promising emerging
technologies for this purpose. A smart sensor based on the Berkeley Mote platform was introduced, and ap-
plication to the next generation of structural health monitoring and control was recently proposed (Spencer et
al., 2002, Spencer 2003). Herein, the performance of the MICA Mote is investigated through free vibration
and shaking table tests of a two story steel structure. The MICA Mote as a wireless acceleration sensor is
shown to have sufficient performance for the intended purpose.

1 INTRODUCTION A number of studies have been conducted on

Computing Everywhere or Ubiquitous Comput-
ing is expected to be realized over the next ten
years. The interest in sensing technology for various
uses has been growing, and new kinds of sensors
have been developed by micro electro mechanical
systems (MEMS) technology. Environmental infor-
mation, such as brightness, temperature, sound, vi-
bration, and a picture of a certain place in a building,
is evaluated by the network to which a huge number
of microcomputer chips with sensors were con-
nected (Sakamura 2002). Fig. 1 shows the flow to-
wards a ubiquitous computing/network society. A
structural health monitoring technology will play an
important role in this stream.
2003
Computer with sensors
are getting smaller,
2004-2006 smarter and cheaper
Small networks of
computer/sensors will be
increased.
2007-2010
Large scale networks of
computer/sensors will
appear
Figure 1. Towards a ubiquitous computing/network society.
structural health monitoring for buildings and civil
engineering structures in recent years (Spencer et al.
2002, Spencer 2003, Dyke et al. 2000, Fujino & Abe
2002, Iwan 2002, Mita & Takahira 2002). Some of
these studies have focused on wireless sensing tech-
nology. Researchers at the Stanford University have
developed a wireless sensing unit for real-time struc-
tural response measurements and conducted a series
of validation tests (Lynch et al. 2002, Lynch 2002).
The Mitsubishi Electric Corporation has developed
energy-saving wireless sensor network and also the
University of Tokyo and the Oki Electric Industry
have devoted their effort to develop new wireless
sensor networks (Skyley networks 2003).
A commercially available wireless sensor plat-
form called the Berkeley Mote with an operating
system was provided by researchers at the Univer-
sity of California, Berkeley (Horton et al. 2002,
Wait et al. 2002), and its application to the next gen-
eration of structural health monitoring and control
2011-2015 was recently proposed (Spencer et al. 2002, Spencer
2003). Because of its open hardware and software
Ubiquitous Computing/
Network Society
platform, the Berkeley Mote has a possibility as a
useful tool for research activities. In this paper, the
feasibility of monitoring of various risks for build-
ings by using the smart sensors is discussed, and the
performance of the MICA Mote as a wireless ac-
celeration sensor is tested.

Kurata, Spencer and Ruiz-Sandoval 1

2 BUILDING RISK MONITORING
2.1 Risk monitoring and hazard mitigation Wireless sensor network
acceleration/strain/
Buildings are subjected to natural hazards such as temperature/light/
severe earthquakes and strong winds, as well as image/sound/etc.
man-made hazards such as fire, crime, and terrorism, Fiber optic network
acceleration/strain/etc.
during their long-term use. To mitigate these haz-
ards, monitoring various risks in a building by an in-
telligent sensor network is necessary. The sensor
network could measure acceleration, displacement,
strain, etc. The risk to buildings includes aging of
structural performance, fatigue, damage, gas leak, Internet
invasion, fires, etc. According to the results of risk
monitoring, appropriate risk control measures such
as structural control, maintenance, evacuation guid- Main server/base station
ance, warning, alarm, fire fighting, rescue, security
measures, can be applied (see Fig. 2). Figure 3. Example of risk monitoring system.

Table 1. Sensor Applications.

Hazard Application Sensor
Risk Monitoring Sensor Network observation acceleration
experiment acceleration, strain
Aging of structural performance/ Acceleration/Displacement/Strain/ Earthquake structural control acceleration
Fatigue/Damage/Gas leak/ Temperature/Light/Image/ /Wind health monitoring acceleration, strain
Invasion/Fires/etc. Olfactory/Smoke/Sound/etc.
damage detection acceleration, strain,
displacement
temperature, smoke,
fire detection acoustic, acceleration,
olfactory
Risk Control Hazard Mitigation gas leak detection olfactory
Fire
alarm, warning sounder
Structural Control/Maintenance/ Natural Hazard
Evacuation guidance/Warning/ (Earthquake, Typhoon, etc.) temperature, smoke,
Alarm/Fire fighting/Rescue/ Man-made Hazard evacuation control acoustic, light,
Security measures/etc. (Fire, Crime, Terrorism, etc.) olfactory
surveillance acceleration, acoustic,
Crime light, camera
security alert sounder
Figure 2. Building risk monitoring and hazard mitigation.

2.2 Role of sensor networks 3 NETWORK-ENABLED WIRELESS SENSOR

A wireless sensor network plays an important role in
such strategies and can be connected to the internet
so that this information can be used for monitoring
future risks. Wireless sensors are easy to install, re-
move, and replace at any location, and are expected
to become increasingly smaller (i.e., smart dust)
by using MEMS technology. They will provide a
ubiquitous, networked sensing environment in build-
ings. For example, acceleration and strain of each
beam and column, temperature and light in each
room, images and sounds in desired locations can be
obtained by the smart dust sensors, as illustrated
in Figure 3. Additionally, a single kind of sensor
such as a condenser microphone can be used for
multiple purposes (Yamasaki & Watanabe 2001).
Furthermore, a fiber optic network is not only util-
ized as infrastructure for information technology,
but also as a wired sensor network. Table 1 shows
various kinds of hazards, and possible applica-
tions/combination of sensors.
Kurata, Spencer and Ruiz-Sandoval
MICA MOTE
3.1 Smart dust project
This technology is based on the smart dust project
supported by the Defense Advanced Research Pro-
jects Agency (DARPA) under the Network Embed-
ded Software Technology (NEST) program in the
Wireless Embedded Systems at the University of
California, Berkeley (Berkeley WEBS). The goal of
this project is to explore the fundamental limits to
the size of autonomous sensor platforms. Many new
applications are expected to become possible when
actual smart dust can be realized on a millimeter
size scale (Pister et al. 1999).
3.2 MICA Mote
The MICA Mote (see Photo. 1) has been developed
by researchers at the University of California,
Berkeley. It is an open hardware and open software
platform for smart sensing and consists of plug-in
sensor boards, AT-mega 128L processor, 916 MHz
2
transceiver, and attached AA battery pack as shown 3.4 Sensor board
in table 2.
A variety of sensor boards for the MICA are avail-
able. A MTS310 Sensor Board manufactured by
Crossbow Technology, Inc. (2003), which was used
in this research, has acceleration, magnetic, light,
temperature, and acoustic sensors, as well as a
sounder (see Photo. 2). The sensor board can be de-
signed and manufactured freely for each purpose.
The Tadeo sensor board which is equipped with a
high-sensitivity acceleration sensor has developed
and tested for the civil engineering applications
(Ruiz-Sandoval et al. 2003).
Microphone Magnetometer
Photograph 1. Wireless sensor MICA Mote.

Table 2. Specifications.
Processor/Radio MICA Remarks Temperature
CPU Atmega128 sensor
CPU clock 4 MHz
Program memory 128 KB Light sensor
Data memory 512 KB
AD converter 10 bit 8 channel
5.5 mA Active current Accelerometer
Processor current draw Sounder
<20 A Sleep mode
Radio frequency 916 MHz Photograph 2. MTS310 Sensor board.
Data rate 40 KB/sec Max
12 mA Transmit current
Radio current draw 1.8 mA Receive current 4 PERFORMANCE TEST
<1 A Sleep current
Radio range 100 feet Programmable 4.1 Test set-up
Power 2 AA batteries
To investigate the performance of the MICA as the
External power 3 Volts
Expansion connector 51 pin Plug-in sensor
wireless acceleration sensor, a free vibration test and
board damage detection tests using a shaking table were
conducted. Figures 5 and 6 show the two story test
3.3 TinyOS structure considered with elastic and elasto-plastic
columns, respectively. They are made with duralu-
TinyOS is a distributed, open-source operating sys- min or aluminum for columns, and steel for beams.
tem which supports large scale, self-configuring Additional mass is attached on each floor. The
sensor networks as shown in the Figure 4. TinyOS MICA and a reference accelerometer were attached
includes radio messaging, message hopping from to the top of the test structure.
Mote to Mote, low power modes, sensor measure-
ments and signal processing. nesC is used as the MICA
programming language for TinyOS. 300mm 100mm Reference
Accelerometer
Strain
Routing Tree Link Steel 4mm Gauge A
Connectivity
300mm

1mm
Duralumin
Strain
Gauge B
Mote Base Station Strain
Steel Gauge C
Steel
300mm

Strain
Gauge D

Figure 4. Ad hoc and multi hop sensing. Figure 5. Test structure A.

Kurata, Spencer and Ruiz-Sandoval 3
 (a) Top Acceleration by Reference

Acceleration
MICA

(cm/sec2)
300mm 100mm Reference
Accelerometer
(sec)
Steel 4mm Strain
(b) Top Acceleration by MICA

Acceleration
Gauge A

(cm/sec2)
1.5mm
300mm

10mm Strain
Gauge B (sec)

Steel Steel Strain Figure 7. Free vibration test results.

Gauge C
300mm

Aluminum Strain 4.3 Damage detection test-1

Gauge D
Figure 6. Test structure B.
4.2 Free vibration test
Free vibration tests of structure A, shown in Figure
5, were conducted. An additional mass of 3.3 kg is
attached on each floor. Figure 7 shows measured ac-
celerations at the top of test structure A using both
the reference accelerometer and the MICA. Accel-
erations from the MICA were sent to the base sta-
tion, which was wirelessly attached to the notebook
PC (see Photo. 3). The sensitivity of the accelerome-
ter on the MTS310 Sensor Board is not sufficient for
accurate measurement of small amplitudes (Ruiz-
Sandoval et al. 2003). Some of data were lost during
the test because of wireless communication prob-
lems such as packet collisions. However, it has suf-
ficient performance for the detection of vibration of
the structure itself, and monitoring of certain risks.
The first damage detection test for structure B
shown in Figure 6 was carried out using the shaking
table. The input wave was JMA-Kobe (NS) earth-
quake. An additional mass of 3.3 kg is attached on
each floor. Photograph 4 and Figure 8 show the
damage process for test structure B, and the meas-
ured top floor acceleration and strain in the columns,
respectively. The first story collapsed at stage 2 of
the process, subsequently the second story collapsed
at stage 3 and 4, as shown in Photograph 4. Compar-
ing measured results between reference acceleration
senor and the MICA, the MICA was able to measure
the response of the structure and detected its damage
wirelessly.
1 2

3 4

Test structure, shaking table, PC with base station

Photograph 4. Damage process.

MICA on roof floor Base station

Photograph 3. Test set up.

Kurata, Spencer and Ruiz-Sandoval 4

 (a) Top Acceleration by Reference (a) Top Acceleration by Reference
Acceleration

Acceleration
(cm/sec2)

(cm/sec2)
(sec) (sec)

(b) Top Acceleration by MICA 4

Acceleration
(b) Top Acceleration by MICA
Acceleration

2 4

(cm/sec2)
(cm/sec2)

1 3 1 2 3
(sec) (sec)

(c) Strain of Column Gauge A

Strain()
Gauge C
Strain()

Gauge A Gauge D
(c) Strain of Column
(sec) (sec)

Figure 8. Damage detection test-1 results. Figure 9. Damage detection test-2 results.

4.4 Damage detection test-2

The second damage detection test for test structure B
was also carried out using the JMA-Kobe (NS)
earthquake. Additional masses of 0.66 kg and 3.3 kg
were attached on the first and second floors, respec-
tively. Photograph 5 and Figure 9 show the damage
process, and the measured top floor acceleration and
strain in the columns, respectively. The columns of
the second story entered the plastic range at stage 2
of the process, subsequently the second story col-
lapsed at stage 3 and the first story at stage 4, as
shown in Photograph 5. As was found in the first
test, the MICA wirelessly measured the response of
the structure and detected its damage. However, it
should be added that the development of strain gage
sensor board for the MICA is desirable because de-
tailed damage process of the structure can be de-
tected by the strain of the column.
1 2
3 4
Photograph 5. Damage process.
Kurata, Spencer and Ruiz-Sandoval
5 CONCLUSIONS
The feasibility of risk monitoring for buildings using
the smart sensors was discussed and a performance
of the MICA Mote as a wireless sensor was tested.
The results showed the MICA has a promising fu-
ture as an effective tool for risk monitoring in build-
ings. Further research on more effective modes of
communication is needed to achieve a wireless sen-
sor network for building risk monitoring.
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7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors would like to express their gratitude to

Dr. Yuji Miyamoto, Dr. Yuji Sako, and Mr. Michio
Imai of Kajima Corporation for implementing the
shaking table tests. The author gratefully acknowl-
edges the partial support of this research by the
CUREE-Kajima Joint Research Program Phase-V.

Kurata, Spencer and Ruiz-Sandoval 6