Wireless NDE Sensor System for Continuous Monitoring

For continuous monitoring of power-plant components, the use of in-situ sensors (i.e., sensors that are permanently mounted on the structure) is necessary. In-situ wired sensors require an unrealistic amount of cabling for power and data transfer, which can drive up costs of installation and maintenance. In addition, the use of cabling in hostile environments (high temperature/pressure environments) is not a viable option. This paper presents a wireless system for continuous monitoring, identification of anomalous events, NDE data acquisition and data transfer. NDE sensors are integrated with a wireless radio unit such as a MICA mote. Measurements from the sensors are typically acquired at prescribed intervals, encoded and compressed, and transmitted to a central processing server, where appropriate signal processing techniques may be used to filter out noise in the measurements, enhance the desired signal and quantify the damage in terms of severity.