Abstract
The Internet of Things (IoT) has significantly advanced the application of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) in Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), particularly for civil engineering infrastructure such as bridges. Despite the advancements, the widespread application of WSNs in SHM remains hindered by their limited network lifetime, posing a significant hurdle to their adoption. Furthermore, IoT and WSNs open a new attack surface. Designing SHM systems with wireless sensors utilizing no network allows system resiliency to cyber-attacks. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have been heralded for their potential to overcome these limitations through secure and efficient data collection. This thesis expands on the existing UAV application by proposing a novel UAV-assisted WSN system that employs Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) as the communication protocol for synchronized data gathering in SHM systems. Our design diverges from traditional multi-hop WSNs by leveraging UAVs as mobile data sinks, reducing the energy burden on individual sensor nodes, and significantly prolonging the sensors operational life. Through an analytical study, we demonstrate that our UAV-BLE system offers a remarkable improvement in network lifetime in comparison to conventional network routed WSNs. Additionally, the use of BLE facilitates a lightweight authentication scheme, providing secure wireless communication between sensor nodes and the UAV. Thus, this novel approach enhances the overall robustness and longevity of SHM systems. A proof-of-concept implementation, utilizing a PASCO bridge kit equipped with wireless load cell sensors, demonstrates the feasibility of our approach. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first exploration of a BLE-centric synchronization scheme in the context of SHM, marking a significant leap toward secure, safe, reliable, and efficient monitoring of civil engineering structures.