Requirements, challenges and opportunities of wireless sensor networks in structural health monitoring

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is a good approach to collecting data about critical structural elements and providing diagnosis of the structural condition. Among considerable solutions to perform SHM, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) present a novel method with compelling advantages. However, in order to satisfy stringent requirements in SHM, WSN solution must handle numerous challenges before the real deployment. This paper studies the requirements of SHM and discusses the challenges and opportunities that influence WSN development in SHM in the future.