Smart monitoring and SHM

Structural Health Monitoring becomes an increasing subject for testing the integrity of structures during operation. Especially AI and machine learning give a vast variety of new possibilities to deal with large amounts of noisy data from operating structures. Smart Monitoring can be assigned to the area of Industry 4.0 or Internet of Things (IoT). The aim of Smart Monitoring is to avoid failures by early detection of failures or operational disturbances using various sensor data and an automated operation from measuring, processing to defect detection or even predictive maintenance. The authors would like to give a short inside in the latest developments and the new possibilities opened by the significant increase of computer efficiency in respect of processing capacity but also miniaturization of electronic components. All components of a smart SHM system are listed and evaluated regarding the advantages and challenges. This refers to method selection and system design, the demands on electronics and energy supply, the signal processing and data evaluation, the regulations, and the system integration and reliability issues. An example for an offshore wind application is given at the end of the chapter to illustrate the complexity behind the development of such a monitoring system.