Moving sensors for improved estimation of dynamic structures: Experimental validation

In the monitoring of structural systems, the use of multiple high-end sensors may prove to be economically prohibitive. The alternative approach would be to use fewer devices capable of moving across the span of the structural system. In the proposed approach, a velocity sensor that is able to move across the spatial domain and obtain point-wise velocity measurements is combined to a novel dynamic observer. Based on the measured velocities, a state estimator is developed, the gain of which depends on the motion of the sensor. The motion of the sensor is defined using Lyapunov redesign methods and depends only on the estimation error at the current sensor position. The guidance policy is performance based and steers the sensor to spatial regions of the structure with larger estimation errors. The proposed approach is validated with a one-dimensional flexible structure, mathematically described by an Euler–Bernoulli partial differential equation. The moving sensor is realized through the use of a laser scanning vibrometer that provides both the moving measurements and additional measurements against which the proposed approach will be validated. Once measurements over a large number of locations are acquired, the experimental results are fed to the algorithm that selects the instantaneous sensor location. Experimental results for linear and nonlinear beam cases are presented to show the feasibility and robustness of the proposed approach.