CPS: Small: A Unified Distributed Spatiotemporal Signal Processing Framework for Structural Health Monitoring

Abstract: The objective of this research is to meet the urgent global need for improved safety and reduced maintenance costs of important infrastructures by developing a unified signal processing framework coupling spatiotemporal sensing data with physics-based and data-driven models. The approach is structured along the following thrusts: investigating the feasibility of statistical modeling of dynamic structures to address the spatiotemporal correlation of sensing data; developing efficient distributed damage detection and localization algorithms; investigating network enhancement through strategic sensor placement; addressing optimal sensor collaboration for recursive localized structural state estimation and prediction. Intellectual merit: This innovative unified framework approach has the potential of being more reliable and efficient with better scalability compared to the current state-of-the-art in structural health monitoring. The proposed research is also practical as it allows analysis of real-world data that accounts for structural properties, environmental noise, and loss of integrity over sensors. Probabilistic representation of significant damages allows more informative risk assessment. Broader impacts: The outcome of this project will provide an important step toward safety and reliability albeit increasing complexity in dynamic systems. New models and algorithms developed in this project are generic and can contribute in many other areas and applications that involve distributed recursive state estimation, distributed change detection and data fusion. This project will serve as an excellent educational platform to educate and train the next generation CPS researchers and engineers. Under-represented groups such as female students and Native American students will be supported in this project, at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.