Project Title: Development of a Self-sustained Wireless Integrated Structural Health Monitoring (ISHM) System for Highway Bridges

Sponsoring Organization: USDOT Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA)

A joint research team of the University of Maryland (UMD), the North Carolina State University (NCSU) and URS Corporation, has been awarded a research project by the US Department of Transportation’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), under The Commercial Remote Sensing and Spatial Information (CRS&SI) Technologies Program.

The project aims to develop a smart bridge condition monitoring system termed ISHM system, which features a number of technology innovations, including remote sensing capability, piezo paint acoustic emission sensors, wind and solar based energy harvesting devices to power sensor network, high-speed wireless sensing ability and advanced data analysis methods for remaining life estimation of aging bridges. Through successful advancement and commercialization in the state-of-the-art technology of remote infrastructure sensing, the ISHM system is promising to reduce life cycle costs while significantly maintaining the sustainability of the highway infrastructures in the US.