Bridge-safety monitoring technology, Los Alamos National Lab

A novel use of a model helicopter and inexpensive sensors allows inaccessible portions of highway bridges to be checked for structural stability or damage.
http://www.lanl.gov/news/index.php/fuseaction/home.story/story_id/11142

This is the project of David Mascareñas, a doctoral student from the University of California-San Diego's Jacobs School of Engineering, working at the Los Alamos Engineering Institute with Director Chuck Farrar. Mascareñas' project uses electronic sensors powered by microwaves to gather and send data via radiotelemetry to an airborne computer for analysis. In this case, the computer is airborne thanks to a radio-controlled helicopter that Mascareñas has retrofitted to serve that function. Low-cost sensors placed on a bridge or similar architectural entity detect electrical charges emitted by stress on materials, such as the steel-reinforced concrete used to construct many bridges, and transmit the signals back to a receiver in the helicopter as it passes.
Los Alamos National Laboratory is a national security science laboratory operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration. http://www.lanl.gov

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Science & Technology

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