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  1. Fromme, Paul ; Su, Zhongqing (Ed.)
    Stereovision systems can extract full-field three-dimensional (3D) displacements of structures by processing the images collected with two synchronized cameras. To obtain accurate measurements, the cameras must be calibrated to account for lens distortion (i.e., intrinsic parameters) and compute the cameras’ relative position and orientation (i.e., extrinsic parameters). Traditionally, calibration is performed by taking photos of a calibration object (e.g., a checkerboard) with the two cameras. Because the calibration object must be similar in size to the targeted structure, measurements on large-scale structures are highly impractical. This research proposes a multi-sensor board with three inertial measurement units and a laser distance meter to compute the extrinsic parameters of a stereovision system and streamline the calibration procedure. In this paper, the performances of the proposed sensor-based calibration are compared with the accuracy of the traditional image-based calibration procedure. Laboratory experiments show that cameras calibrated with the multi-sensor board measure displacements with 95% accuracy compared to displacements obtained from cameras calibrated with the traditional procedure. The results of this study indicate that the sensor-based approach can increase the applicability of 3D digital image correlation measurements to large-scale structures while reducing the time and complexity of the calibration. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available April 25, 2024
  2. Su, Zhongqing ; Limongelli, Maria Pina ; Glisic, Branko (Ed.)
    This paper aims to investigate the performance of piezoelectric sensors with different shapes of 3D-printed microstructures. Based on the numerical analysis in the time-frequency domain, the microstructures are printed directly on the PVDF transparent film exhibiting higher piezoelectric coefficients using a high-resolution two-photon polymerization method. Bi-directional gold IDTs are fabricated by sputtering gold onto the substrate surface using a 3D-printed stencil. The mechanical properties of the film and surface morphology of printed microstructures are examined using a nanoindenter and a 3D profilometer. The change in frequency response due to the microstructure is measured using a network analyzer. This study will be a reference for developing an efficient wave-based gas sensor with enhanced sensitivity. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available April 18, 2024
  3. Su, Zhongqing ; Limongelli, Maria Pina ; Glisic, Branko (Ed.)
    Free, publicly-accessible full text available April 18, 2024
  4. Su, Zhongqing ; Limongelli, Maria Pina ; Glisic, Branko (Ed.)
    Free, publicly-accessible full text available April 18, 2024
  5. Su, Zhongqing ; Limongelli, Maria Pina ; Glisic, Branko (Ed.)
    The battery-powered wireless sensor network (WSN) is a promising solution for structural health monitoring (SHM) applications because of its low cost and easy installation capability. However, the long-term WSN operation suffers from various concerns related to uneven battery degradation of wireless sensors, associated battery management, and replacement requirement, and ensuring desired quality of service (QoS) of the WSN in practice. The battery life is one of the biggest limiting factors for long-term WSN operation. Considering the costly maintenance trips for battery replacement, a lack of effective battery degradation management at the system level can lead to a failure in WSN operation. Moreover, the QoS needs to be ensured under various practical uncertainties. Optimal selection with a maximal number of nodes in WSN under uncertainties is a critical task to ensure the desired QoS. This study proposes a reinforcement learning (RL) based framework for active control of the battery degradation at the WSN system level with the aim of the battery group replacement while extending the service life and ensuring the QoS of WSN. A comprehensive simulation environment was developed in a real-life WSN setup, i.e. WSN for a cable-stayed bridge SHM, considering various practical uncertainties. The RL agent was trained under a developed RL environment to learn optimal nodes and duty cycles, meanwhile managing battery health at the network level. In this study, a mode shape-based quality index is proposed for the demonstration. The training and test results showed the prominence of the proposed framework in achieving effective battery health management of the WSN for SHM. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available April 18, 2024
  6. Fromme, Paul ; Su, Zhongqing (Ed.)
    Three-dimensional digital image correlation (3D-DIC) has become a strong alternative to traditional contact-based techniques for structural health monitoring. 3D-DIC can extract the full-field displacement of a structure from a set of synchronized stereo images. Before performing 3D-DIC, a complex calibration process must be completed to obtain the stereovision system’s extrinsic parameters (i.e., cameras’ distance and orientation). The time required for the calibration depends on the dimensions of the targeted structure. For example, for large-scale structures, the calibration may take several hours. Furthermore, every time the cameras’ position changes, a new calibration is required to recalculate the extrinsic parameters. The approach proposed in this research allows determining the 3D-DIC extrinsic parameters using the data measured with commercially available sensors. The system utilizes three Inertial Measurement Units with a laser distance meter to compute the relative orientation and distance between the cameras. In this paper, an evaluation of the sensitivity of the newly developed sensor suite is provided by assessing the errors in the measurement of the extrinsic parameters. Analytical simulations performed on a 7.5 x 5.7 m field of view using the data retrieved from the sensors show that the proposed approach provides an accuracy of ~10-6 m and a promising way to reduce the complexity of 3D-DIC calibration. 
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  7. Fromme, Paul ; Su, Zhongqing (Ed.)
    We investigate curved surfaces operating as geodesic lenses for elastic waves. Consistently with findings in optics, we show that wave propagation occurs along rays that correspond to the geodesics of the curved surfaces, and we establish the geometric equivalence between Gaussian curvature and refractive index. This equivalence is formulated for flexural waves in curved shells by showing that, in the short wavelength limit, the ray equation corresponds to the classical equation of geodesics. We leverage this result to identify a non-Euclidean transformation that maps the geometric profile of a isotropic curved waveguide into a spatially varying refractive index distribution for a planar waveguide. These theoretical predictions are validated first through numerical simulations, and subsequently through experiments on 3D printed curved membranes with different curvature distributions. Numerical and experimental findings confirm that focal regions and caustic networks are correctly predicted based on geodesic evaluations. Our results form the basis for the design of curved profiles that correspond to spatial distributions of the refractive index and induce focal points by forcing waves to propagate along predefined trajectories. The findings of this study also suggest curvature as an attractive alternative to strategies based on the local tailoring of material properties and geometrical patterns that have gained in popularity for gradient-index lens design. 
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  8. Zonta, Daniele ; Su, Zhongqing ; Glisic, Branko (Ed.)
  9. Zonta, Daniele ; Su, Zhongqing ; Glisic, Branko (Ed.)
  10. Zonta, Daniele ; Su, Zhongqing ; Glisic, Branko (Ed.)
    Recent developments in autonomous vehicle (AV) or connected AVs (CAVs) technology have led to predictions that fully self-driven vehicles could completely change the transportation network over the next decades. However, at this stage, AVs and CAVs are still in the development stage which requires various trails in the field and machine learning through autonomous driving miles on real road networks. Until the complete market adoption of autonomous technology, a long transition period of coexistence between conventional and autonomous cars would exist. It is important to study and develop the expected driving behavior of future autonomous cars and the traffic simulation platforms provide an opportunity for researchers and technology developers to implement and assess the different behaviors of self-driving vehicle technology before launching it to the actual ground. This study utilizes PTV VISSIM microsimulation platform to evaluate the mobility performance of unmanned vehicles at a 4-way signalized traffic intersection. The software contains three different AV-ready driving logics such as AV-cautious, AV-normal, and AV-aggressive which were tested against the performance of the conventional vehicles, and the results of the study revealed that the overall network operational performance improves with the progressive introduction of AVs using AV-normal, and AV-aggressive driving behaviors while the AV-cautious driving behavior stays conservative and deteriorates the traffic performance. 
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