WSN and GNSS based Deformation Monitoring-Frame Design and Case Analysis

To maintain safe and smooth operation of urban infrastructures, security evaluation and deformation monitoring have formed a challenging issue, especially for large scale buildings and structures since they are usually built within urban areas and densely populated districts. In recent years, related specific methods have been presented to achieve valid monitoring for these human structures, among which, GNSS, either combined with other spatial technologies such as remote sensing, SAR or InSAR, or sensors including inertial system or total stations, have played active roles for deformation monitoring. We propose a way to combine GNSS with wireless sensor network (WSN) to form a unique approach for deformation monitoring for some special regions that can not be effectively tackled by previous schemes. Our research work lies in two aspects. One is the configuration of networks in which roving GNSS receivers and reference receivers are properly distributed to form a more flexible configuration to suit for specific shapes of structures. The other feature is the employment of wireless sensor network to form a flexible routine for cost-effective data communication within the monitoring areas. Some methods to deal with challenges arisen from impacts like multipath and deformation prediction are also explored and discussed to promote monitoring efficiency. Related tests have been conducted to exemplify our technical routines and verify the feasibility of suggested monitoring schemes.