Pervasive Structural Health Monitoring Based on the Snmp Protocol

Computer-based structural health monitoring (SHM) systems are deployed in complex civil structures for continual sanity checks and early warning purposes. Skyscrapers, overextended bridges, oil refineries and pipelines are examples of civil structures that need to be continually monitored for corrosions, decays, stress and temperature change. Integrating multi-vendor SHM systems, which are technologically different, in one global monitoring system is essential for geographically spread organizations. The integration task requires a dedicated network, leased public telecommunications lines, and a protocol stack to interconnect the dispersed SHM systems. In this paper, we propose a new architecture, based on the well-established and ubiquitous Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), to interconnect various SHM systems with a global monitoring system through the Internet. We describe the essential components and the basic structure of the corresponding management information base (MIB). Adopting an Internet-based standard yields economical and operational benefits, but with some security drawbacks. We shall also highlight the envisioned benefits and discuss means to mitigate the security concerns.