Structures as Sensors

Aging bridges present a severe public safety risk, yet traditional structural health monitoring systems are too expensive and complex for widespread use. To solve this, we have developed a scalable, cost-effective method that repurposes existing telecommunication fiber-optic cables into dense dynamic strain sensors.

This innovative approach captures detailed wavefields across entire bridge superstructures, a feat previously impossible due to the high cost of dedicated sensor arrays. The system accurately estimates millimeter-level displacements and structural parameters, proving highly robust against noise caused by imperfect fiber-to-bridge coupling.

We successfully field-tested our system on six bridges in the United States and South Korea,  and demonstrated that leveraging preexisting, widely deployed telecom networks can enable real-time, large-scale structural monitoring without the logistical and financial burdens of installing new, dedicated sensors.