Quattrocchi Antonino, Martella Francesco, Lukaj Valeria, De Leo Rocco, Villari Massimo, Montanini Roberto
Department of Engineering, University of Messina, C.da di Dio, 98166 Messina, Italy.
Department of Mathematics, Computer Science, Physics and Earth Science (MIFT), University of Messina, Viale Ferdinando Stagno d'Alcontres 31, 98166 Messina, Italy.
Sensors (Basel). 2023 Aug 7;23(15):6993. doi: 10.3390/s23156993.
The structural collapse of a street lighting pole represents an aspect that is often underestimated and unpredictable, but of relevant importance for the safety of people and things. These events are complex to evaluate since several sources of damage are involved. In addition, traditional inspection methods are ineffective, do not correctly quantify the residual life of poles, and are inefficient, requiring enormous costs associated with the vastness of elements to be investigated. An advantageous alternative is to adopt a distributed type of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) technique based on the Internet of Things (IoT). This paper proposes the design of a low-cost system, which is also easy to integrate in current infrastructures, for monitoring the structural behavior of street lighting poles in Smart Cities. At the same time, this device collects previous structural information and offers some secondary functionalities related to its application, such as meteorological information. Furthermore, this paper intends to lay the foundations for the development of a method that is able to avoid the collapse of the poles. Specifically, the implementation phase is described in the aspects concerning low-cost devices and sensors for data acquisition and transmission and the strategies of information technologies (ITs), such as Cloud/Edge approaches, for storing, processing and presenting the achieved measurements. Finally, an experimental evaluation of the metrological performance of the sensing features of this system is reported. The main results highlight that the employment of low-cost equipment and open-source software has a double implication. On one hand, they entail advantages such as limited costs and flexibility to accommodate the specific necessities of the interested user. On the other hand, the used sensors require an indispensable metrological evaluation of their performance due to encountered issues relating to calibration, reliability and uncertainty.
路灯杆的结构坍塌是一个常被低估且不可预测的方面，但对人和物的安全至关重要。由于涉及多种损坏源，这些事件难以评估。此外，传统检测方法效果不佳，无法正确量化灯杆的剩余寿命，且效率低下，调查大量元件需耗费巨额成本。一个有利的替代方案是采用基于物联网（IoT）的分布式结构健康监测（SHM）技术。本文提出一种低成本系统的设计，该系统易于集成到现有基础设施中，用于监测智慧城市中路灯杆的结构行为。同时，该设备收集先前的结构信息，并提供与其应用相关的一些辅助功能，如气象信息。此外，本文旨在为开发一种能够避免灯杆倒塌的方法奠定基础。具体而言，在涉及用于数据采集和传输的低成本设备和传感器以及信息技术（IT）策略（如云/边缘方法）等方面描述了实施阶段，这些策略用于存储、处理和呈现所获取的测量数据。最后，报告了对该系统传感特性计量性能的实验评估。主要结果表明，使用低成本设备和开源软件有双重影响。一方面，它们具有成本有限和灵活性等优点，能够满足相关用户的特定需求。另一方面，由于在校准、可靠性和不确定性方面遇到问题，所使用的传感器需要对其性能进行不可或缺的计量评估。
