Paper published in IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control

We have demonstrated a combined inspection and data communication approach for Lamb-wave Structural Health Monitoring. A paper was recently accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control.

Abstract:

Guided ultrasound waves have long been studied in the context of structural health monitoring (SHM). More recently, they have also been proposed for acoustic data communication. This paper aims at a joint approach combining guided-wave damage inspection with acoustic data communication. In this work, a network of autonomous transceiver nodes is modeled that represents a part of a SHM system where the available bandwidth is divided into inspection and communication frequencies. The presented communication protocol is insensitive to dispersion and multipath interference that commonly hamper Lamb-wave signal processing. Experimental results include the successful detection of different damage types at several positions on a metallic plate. Moreover, the communication of data, namely damage indicators, across the distributed nodes to a central downstream port is shown. Lastly, a numerical study regarding the dynamic behavior of autonomous sensor networks is presented.

More information:

Mälzer, M.; Kexel, T.; Maetz, T. & Moll, J., Combined Inspection and Data Communication Network for Lamb-wave Structural Health Monitoring, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, 2019 (accepted in June 2019)