A Rectangular Microstrip Patch Antenna Used for Structural Health Monitoring

Structural health monitoring (SHM) in civil engineering requires robust sensors but the connection line and power supply in traditional sensors remain a significant challenge to the practical implementation of SHM. In this paper, we propose a rectangular microstrip antenna which can be used as a strain sensor. The antenna is a wireless and passive sensor which can fully overcome the drawbacks of traditional sensors. It is found that the resonant frequency of antenna will change regularly with the change of strain. Also, the resonant frequency will vary linearly when the size of antenna changes in the horizontal and vertical directions, respectively. With these characteristics, the antenna can be an ideal sensor for the SHM applications.