Energy-Efficient Heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Deployment with Multiple Objectives for Structural Health Monitoring

Heterogeneous wireless sensor networks (HWSNs) are widely adopted in structural health monitoring systems due to their potential for implementing sophisticated algorithms by integrating a diverse set of devices and improving a network’s sensing performance. However, deploying such a HWSN is still in a challenge due to the heterogeneous nature of the data and the energy constraints of the network. To respond to these challenges, an optimal deployment framework in terms of both modal information quality and energy consumption is proposed in this study. This framework generates a multi-objective function aimed at maximizing the quality of the modal information identified from heterogeneous data while minimizing the consumption of energy within the network at the same time. Particle swarm optimization algorithm is then implemented to seek solutions to the function effectively. After laying out the proposed sensor-optimization framework, a methodology is present to determine the clustering of the sensors to further conserve energy. Finally, a numerical verification is performed on a four-span pre-stressed reinforced concrete box-girder bridge. Results show that a set of strategically positioned heterogeneous sensors can maintain a balanced trade-off between the modal information accuracy and energy consumption. It is also observed that an appropriate cluster-tree network topology can further achieve energy saving in HWSNs.