Wireless Crack Detection of a concrete building using Low-Cost RFID Tags

Our aging infrastructure has high safety concerns due to increasing extreme weather events. Over time small damages in these structures may develop into catastrophic failure and therefore need to be monitored closely. Non-destructive evaluation techniques have been developed and achieve acceptable reliability in such damage identification. However, the high implementation cost dissuades bridge owners leaving visual inspections as the default technique. In this study, field implementation of low-cost Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)-based crack sensors for reinforced concrete buildings is provided. Commercially available low cost RFID tags were used for passive sensors on different extents of cracks, received powers were monitored in the field using new measurement methods (MM) to simulate a more controlled environment for improving accuracy and consistency of crack detection.