Wireless technologies can play a significant role in the monitoring and control of civil structures. Structural sensing and control technologies can benefit in terms of installation cost and time from wireless communication and embedded computing. This paper discusses the development of a low-cost wireless sensing system judiciously designed for civil structures. By incorporating an actuation signal generation interface, the wireless sensing system has the capabilities to perform structural actuation and support structural control applications. Validation tests have been conducted both in the field and in the laboratory to demonstrate the functionalities and performance of the wireless sensing and wireless control units. While wireless sensor networks are ideally suited for monitoring and control of global structural system, there is a need for sensors installed at the component-level to monitor structures for localized damage phenomena such as cracking and corrosion. Towards this end, this paper describes a passive RFID sensors for strain and pH monitoring applications using a layer-by-layer (LbL) self-assembled carbon nanotube-polyelectrolyte composite thin-film. Wireless sensor network and wireless short-range point-to-point devices are two emerging wireless technologies that can find many practical applications in structural engineering.

Ensuring the safety of civil infrastructures is of utmost importance to society. Research and developments in Structural health monitoring (SHM) systems aim to monitor and to diagnose the conditions of a structure. With recent advances in wireless communication technology, wireless networks can potentially offer a low-cost alternative to traditional cable-based structural monitoring systems. Another advantage of a wireless system is the ease of relocating structural sensors, thus providing a flexible and reconfigurable system architecture. This paper describes the development of a prototype wireless structural sensing system. This integrated hardware and software system is designed and implemented using low-cost off-the-shelf electronic components. Hardware drivers, data streaming protocols, and computational algorithms are embedded in the wireless sensor nodes to provide the basic functionalities for structural monitoring applications. Laboratory and field validation tests have been conducted to illustrate the acquisition, management and processing of high quality sensor data collected by the wireless system. 1.