| Description |
As unattended, remote controlled, and self-driving aerial and ground vehicles become increasingly prevalent, the need for real-time structural health monitoring (SHM) systems that can sense, localize, and quantify internal structural damage with low latency, low power, and small size and weight requirements, is increasing. One such methodology, electrical impedance tomography (EIT), shows promising results, but is limited in its scalability and portability due to lack of hardware support outside of expensive and bulky laboratory-grade equipment. In this master's thesis, a data acquisition system of low cost and small form factor is designed and prototyped to rapidly and efficiently collect EIT measurements for SHM applications. System scalability is abstracted to small data acquisition modules that communicate to a host computer via a USB connection. Fitting the palm of your hand, and at a cost of only 250 USD, each module is capable of collecting EIT data at a rate of 10,000 voltage measurements per second with 10-bit resolution. This study describes the design process that attempts to achieve the desired data collection rate, transfer speed, and size requirements for this application using only readily available commercial off-the-shelf electronic components. The performance, precision, accuracy, and EIT reconstruction results of the designed EIT measurement system are characterized and compared to a laboratory-grade EIT data acquisition system. |
