Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Smart bricks could monitor buildings, save lives

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003 17:38:24 -0400

Smart bricks could monitor buildings, save lives

Jim Kloeppel, Physical Sciences Editor
(217) 244-1073; [email-masked]

6/12/03

CHAMPAIGN, Ill.
A “smart brick” developed by scientists at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign could monitor a building’s health and save lives.
“This innovation could change the face of the construction industry,”
said Chang Liu, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at
Illinois.
“We are living with more and more smart electronics all around us, but
we still live and work in fairly dumb buildings. By making our buildings
smarter, we can improve both our comfort and safety.”

In work performed through the university’s Center for Nanoscale Science
and Technology, Liu and graduate student Jon Engel have combined sensor
fusion, signal processing, wireless technology and basic construction
material into a multi-modal sensor package that can report building
conditions to a remote operator.
The prototype has a thermistor, two-axis accelerometer, multiplexer,
transmitter, antenna and battery hidden inside a brick. Built into a
wall, the brick could monitor a building’s temperature, vibration and
movement.

Such information could be vital to firefighters battling a blazing
skyscraper, or to rescue workers ascertaining the soundness of an
earthquake-damaged structure.
“Our proof-of-concept brick is just one example of where you can have
the sensor, signal processor, wireless communication link and battery
packaged in one compact unit,” Liu said. “You also could embed the
sensor circuitry in concrete blocks, laminated beams, structural steel
and many other building materials.”

To extend battery life, the brick could transmit building conditions at
regular intervals, instead of operating continuously, Liu said. The
battery could also be charged through the brick by an inductive coil,
similar to those used in electric toothbrushes and certain artificial
heart pumps.
The researchers are currently using off-the-shelf components in their
smart bricks, so there is “lots of room for making the sensor package
smaller,” Engel said. “Ultimately, we would like to fit everything onto
one chip, and then put that chip on a piece of plastic, instead of
silicon, to make it more robust.”

Silicon is a rigid, brittle material, which can easily crack or break.
“Sensor packages built on flexible substrates would not only be more
resilient,” Engel said, “they would offer additional versatility. For
example, you could wrap a flexible sensor around the iron reinforcing
bars that strengthen concrete and then monitor the strain.”
Liu and Engel have already crafted such sensors by depositing metal
films on flexible polymer substrates. Dubbed “smart skin” by its
inventors, the sensor material can be wrapped around any surface of
interest, such as a robotic finger.

“While a typical tactile sensor can only measure surface roughness, our
sensor material can determine roughness, hardness, temperature and
conductivity,” Liu said. “The combined input gives you a much better
idea of the type of material being touched.”

The researchers’ smart skin is fabricated at the university’s Micro and
Nanotechnology Laboratory. Although the skin is not yet wireless, Engel
is working on the analog-to-digital conversion process to utilize
existing wireless technology.

The smart bricks, however, are fully wireless. In addition to keeping
tabs on a building’s health, applications include monitoring nurseries,
daycares and senior homes, and creating interactive “smart toys” that
respond to the touch of a child.

“In a smart doll, for example, sensor capability would distinguish
between caressing and slapping, allowing the doll to react accordingly,”
Liu said.
“In the gaming industry, wireless sensors attached to a person’s arms
and legs could replace the conventional joystick and allow a ‘couch
potato’ to get some physical exercise while playing video games such as
basketball or tennis. The opportunities seem endless.” The National
Science Foundation funded the work.

Source:
http://www.news.uiuc.edu/scitips/03/0612smartbricks.html

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