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IoT for Structural Health Monitoring

Article  in  IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Magazine · December 2018

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 IoT for Structural
Health Monitoring
Carmelo Scuro, Paolo Francesco Sciammarella, Francesco Lamonaca,
Renato Sante Olivito, and Domenico Luca Carnì

S
tructural Health Monitoring (SHM) concerns the
continuous monitoring of civil and industrial
buildings to increase human safety and to reduce
maintenance costs. The SHM system furnishes information
about the alterations in a single part or in the whole struc-
ture caused by materials aging, action of the environment, or
accidental events. Typically, SHM systems are devoted to mon-
itoring: humidity, temperature, accelerations, tensile stress,
compressive stress, and building materials degradation. The
methods used are non-invasive and require the deployment
of sensors in checkpoints well defined by the experts. The in-
formation from the sensors is merged with the mathematical
models to determine the structure safety.
The sensors are smart since they are not only able to mea-
sure the physical quantities of interest but elaborate them
and are able to transmit the information through the inter-
net to take decisions. Each sensor is a Smart Object (SO) and
the whole SHM is an implementation of the Internet of Things
(IoT) [1], [2] paradigm.
The information is sent in the cloud by internet connection
to permit elaboration by distributed systems and Big Data par-
adigms for their management. The time correlation among the
data permits analysis that evaluates the structural degradation
and automatically alerts the users.
The implementation of SHM system by the IoT para-
digm permits new technologies to be adopted to improve
the efficiency and the reliability of the developed monitor-
ing system. Typically, IoT systems use wireless networks
to share data among SOs. In the case of SHM, wireless net-
works permit sensors to be easily allocated in the space
and positioned on the monitoring point indicated by the
structural experts, increasing the sensitivity of the whole
monitoring system. This permits an increase in the efficiency
of the monitoring and reduces the monitoring system costs
with respect to the case of the adoption of a wired ad-hoc net-
work technology.
The network used to interconnect SOs can be based on ex-
isting internet standards [1]. This permits a simple integration
of the SHM into more general systems such as smart buildings
and smart cities, smart infrastructure and smart industry.
Moreover, the sensitivity of the detection of the structural
damage and continuous monitoring [3] permits important fea-
tures to be achieved such as the timely detection of dangerous
states and the storing of monitoring information. Both of these
features introduce the capability of the monitoring system to
implement criteria for providing a prognosis about the resid-
ual life of the structure or to optimize its maintenance.
The interesting aspect about the introduction of the IoT
paradigm in the SHM system [2] regards the applicative sce-
narios that include: bridge monitoring [4], historical masonry
structures monitoring [5], foundation earth monitoring [6], or
alteration of the structure materials [7].
In this paper, to boost the research in improving the capabil-
ity of structure inspection and to determine the requirements
arising from the distribution of the IoT node to imple-
ment SHM systems, an advanced SHM technique based on
ultrasonic inspection or Acoustic Emission (AE) will be sum-
marized. The features evaluated by the emission of ultrasonic
waves in the structure and the acquisition of the eco permits
the system to determine the presence of damage in the struc-
ture and its position. In addition, the AE can be used to detect
the damage formation. To coordinate the measurement pro-
cess from the IoT SOs and to use the measurement results in the
model describing the evolution of the structure under inves-
tigation, it is necessary to synchronize the SOs' clocks. There
are several synchronization techniques that can be applied
to the IoT SOs, and it is necessary to select the most advanta-
geous one. In fact, it is necessary to consider the applicative
scenario's time constrains and the desired maximum synchro-
nization delay.
The paper is organized as follows: preliminarily, the
IoT paradigm integration in the SHM system is provided;

The research presented in this paper is a scientific extension of the work presented
at IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for Industry 4.0 and IoT 2018 [2].

4 IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine December 2018

1094-6969/18/$25.00©2018IEEE
successively, the integration of the IoT-SHM systems in new because, to increase the sensitivity of the whole system, the
and existing structures is reviewed; some examples of applica- SOs implementing the monitoring must be placed in spe-
tive scenarios for IoT-SHM systems are reported; the problems cific points indicated by structural experts. These points can
of the synchronization techniques for the IoT-SHM system and be difficult to be reached by using cables. As a result of us-
different solutions are discussed; and the benefits of the intro- ing wireless SOs, the problem of energy efficiency arises to
duction of the IoT-SHM system are included. The conclusions increase the life time monitoring system. In fact, most com-
follow. mon IoT-SHM solutions currently used in civil engineering
structures are characterized by a distributed system based on
Application of the IoT Paradigm to the battery powered low cost devices able to measure, for exam-
SHM ple, acoustic emissions and strain in the material. This kind
The workflow of SHM systems includes: periodic measure- of system applies the IoT paradigm in the monitoring of the
ments by an array of sensors; extraction of damage sensitive structural elements like beams or pillars [11].
features by processing measurements results; and analysis of Wireless SOs are typically powered by batteries. To prolong
extracted features to identify the current state of the structure. the SO lifetime, and then reduce the cost to replace the battery
These steps are fundamental for the monitoring of a structure by a human operator, the first strategy is to reduce the con-
or a building. In fact, the structural properties of these systems sumption, by reducing the sending and receiving of messages,
change in unpredictable ways and must be monitored period- and then harvesting strategies can be deployed.
ically by the SHM system.
Architectural Analysis of IoT-SHM
Smart Object Characteristics The main difference between an IoT-SHM system and the tra-
The main characteristics of SOs composing the IoT to imple- ditional structural monitoring solutions concerns the role of
ment the SHM system are: its components. In fact, the architecture of an IoT-SHM system
Identification: each SO has a unique identifier, associated to (Fig. 1) can be schematized by: Smart Object (SO) sensors; gate-
a human-readable description of the object, and an IP address way; remote control and service room (RCSR); and the open
that is a unique identifying numerical label, used to make the platform communications (OPC) server.
object in the network con-
tactable by the others.
Communication: the ca-
pability of the SO to be
discovered and to accept
incoming messages and re-
ply to them;
Interaction: may pos-
sess the ability to sense
physical phenomena or to
trigger actions having an
effect on the physical real-
ity (actuators);
Computing capabil-
ity: each SO can locally
pre-analyze the acquired
information to obtain some
raw features that can be
transmitted.
Moreover, new wireless
communication paradigms
developed to meet IoT
requirements, such as Lo-
RaWan or SigFox, achieve
several advantages if com-
pared with the adoption of
wired sensors networks. In
particular, there is reduc-
tion of the costs for cabling
the network and allocating
the sensors. This is relevant Fig. 1. Scheme of an IoT-SHM system.

December 2018 IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 5

 The SO that is the sensor device, which corresponds to the
structural integrity monitoring function, can be defined by the
type of physical phenomenon, closely related to the damage,
which is monitored by the sensor, that produces a signal sent
to the acquisition and storage sub-system.
The gateway of the system is a network node placed at
the border of the monitoring network and is able to interact
on one side with the sensor nodes and on the other side with
the backbone network. From a communication point of view,
the gateway translates messages coming from end devices to
data packets to be sent towards a remote control and service
room. The gateway is able to manage and optimize data re-
quests and event notification, to check node connectivity and
perform system integrity tests leveraging the IoT protocols.
The embedded local database permits the system to store a
large amount of data to solve remote connection problems and
avoid the loss of useful data.
From the RCSR it is possible to perform, on demand, que-
ries to specific sensor nodes, to know the status or other useful
management parameters such as the residual percentage of
the battery and the transmission latency estimated through the
use of several techniques, some of which are reported in [12].
In addition, the RCSR hosts a database to store all collected
data to be used for big data analysis and connectors to an OPC
server used to interoperate with standard industrial systems.
It is the last component of the system and it is responsible for
storing all of the data acquired from the monitoring segments.
Integration of IoT-SHM System in New
and Existing Structures
The introduction in new and existing structures of a moni-
toring system able to detect their structural conditions and to
identify damage may be a hard and challenging task [5]. On
one side, for new structures several monitoring systems can be
used, including embedding optical fiber into the foundations,
pillars and beams, where the main challenge is the integration
of the IoT-SHM in the domotic paradigm. On the other side,
for historic structures that may present poor quality structural
conditions due to damage caused by earthquakes and aging,
the use of invasive techniques or solutions that can alter their
historical and artistic value are not feasible.
In the development of an IoT-SHM system it is also neces-
sary to determine the hardware characteristics of the nodes
of the monitoring system and their positioning. Moreover, it
is necessary to ensure that the SO communicates with a cen-
tralized or distributed unit that will take care to elaborate the
information and apply the measurement results to the struc-
ture model to determine its status. Typical sensors used in
the SO to monitor an existing building are the strain gauges
and accelerometers that communicate in wireless modality.
As a consequence, wireless sensor networks (WSN) are typi-
cally used for the sensing phase in IoT-SHM system. The data
communicated by the sensor nodes are related to global or lo-
cal structural properties typically obtained by using methods
based on: ultrasonic or AE; vibration; strain; comparative vac-
uum monitoring; Lamb wave; and E/M impedance.
6 IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine December 2018
The extracted parameters are processed to evaluate mon-
itored structural component status and detect corrosion,
fatigue, or crack in structures. Some of these parameters may
be static or dynamic. In addition, in this case the statistical pat-
tern recognition methodology is one suitable to solve SHM
problems such as: operational evaluation; data normaliza-
tion and cleaning; feature extraction; and feature selection
for the development of statistical model and information
condensation.
Concerning the positioning and the analysis of the data of
the node, the new trend in the development of IoT-SHM sys-
tems is based on natural computing [2]. Natural computing
introduces a new multidisciplinary paradigm of computation
inspired to the nature, and in SHM shows an interesting appli-
cability in the solution, of optimization problems. In fact, in the
implementation of SHM it is necessary for the proper design
of the sensor network in particular as concerning the sensor
placements and their communication parameters. Moreover,
once the sensors are placed and the data are collected, it is nec-
essary to implement an automatic process to overcome errors
due to human decision in providing the alert. For this pur-
pose, two naturally-inspired algorithms commonly used in
the study of masonry or concrete structure are based on dam-
age identification (DI) and the optimal sensor placement
(OSP). These algorithms are typically used to reduce the costs
of maintenance of cultural heritage buildings because they
are able to generate punctual and specific alerts and then al-
low timely interventions only when and where necessary. In
civil engineering the safety evaluation is based on numerical
analysis by finite element models. The existing and historical
buildings are characterized by different structural techniques
and inhomogeneous materials with non-linear behavior.
These types of structures require very demanding models
which are often not experimentally validated and are based on
strong approximations. All of this introduces high uncertainty
in the evaluation of the stresses.
Model Based Damage Identification
DI can be shortened into five main goals: damage detection;
damage localization; damage classification; quantification of
the extent; and prediction of evolution. Moreover, it is nec-
essary to calculate the damage parameters of each material,
formulating and solving an inverse problem linked to the
changes of material properties. An early identification of the
damage is possible using a method based on the study of vi-
brations and the measurement of the dynamic properties of
the material [5]. Through the changes of the modal properties
(natural frequencies, modal damping and mode shapes), the
damage that changes the damping, stiffness and mass of the
structure can be detectable. The model based on DI is updated
via the recorded vibrations by the system in civil construction
to identify areas where there is damage.
Optimal Sensor Placement
OSP consists of locating the minimum number and type of
sensors, to improve the network architecture (minimum costs,
invasiveness and energy consumption, maximum robust-
ness, system lifetime and network coverage) and to improve
the signal processing (minimum amount of data collected and
maximum quality of information). This optimization allows a
discrete quantity of sensors to monitor the system in a number
of degrees of freedom. OSP is solved if, among the candidates,
no duplicate locations and directions for the sensors can be
established.
Ultrasonic Inspection for IoT-SHM
The IoT-SHM based on ultrasonic waves can be used to eval-
uate the state of health of structural reinforcements applied
to construction. The conventional materials employed in the
repair and rehabilitation of existing buildings have been re-
placed by composite materials (CM). The CM are made by
fibers embedded in a matrix composed by different materials.
In this case, each SO includes an emitter and receiver of
ultrasonic waves. The SO iteratively generates and acquires
signals with carrier frequency in the range of 200 to 600 kHz
with 25 kHz step [13]. To minimize the effect due to environ-
mental noise, the recommended number of measurements to
be recorded and stored is equal to 50. The implementation of
the IoT paradigm to this system allows pre-processing in the
SO of the acquired samples to detect damage in the reinforce-
ment. In the case where damage is detected, the SO can send an
alert message to the server with other information. The server
recognizes the reinforcement failure and communicates the
alert to the user with the location of the damage.
Acoustic Emission for IoT-SHM
A new monitoring technique based on the AE, naturally gen-
erated by the building material under stress, is proposed in
the recent literature [7]. With respect to the ultrasonic in-
spection, the AE does not require active components, and
then meets the low power consumption required by IoT
paradigm. In each SO is included a piezoelectric acoustic
transducer [2], that allows the acquisition of the acoustic
waves generated by the damage inside the material and the
processing of all of the signals acquired, to classify them as
associated to a critical event or not and to correlate multiple
critical events, to infer if a dangerous damage event has oc-
curred. SOs can communicate with each other through the
network [14], [15] and the actions performed include: prop-
agating an alarm throughout the building to evacuate it;
sending remote messages to advise the competent author-
ities and to prompt their intervention; and sending remote
notification to the other buildings included in a fixed neigh-
bourhood, to suggest their evacuation.
IoT-SHM techniques based on AE [7] can be successfully
applied to concrete or masonry structures. New studies are
devoted to extend this monitoring method to composite ma-
terials, too. The main difficulty is the non-homogeneity of
the building materials that make the signal processing phase
harder. The IoT-SHM sensing hardware is easy to use, com-
pact, portable, light, electrically and mechanically robust, and
it provides reliable and accurate measurements. Additionally,
December 2018 IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 7
instrumentation can be functionally flexible, expandable and
relatively inexpensive.
IoT for the SHM of Bridges and Soil
Structural monitoring for bridges ensures the control of their
safety and that of their boundary conditions, i.e., check-
ing if the single parts which compose them have undergone
changes in terms of stiffness. A typical SHM to monitor the vi-
brations and the displacements of this type of structure uses
accelerometer sensors [2]. The accelerometer sensors are gen-
erally micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) sensors.
Compared with traditional sensing technologies, MEMS
sensors are more flexible, reliable, and present remarkable
characteristics due to their small size, light weight, low-power
consumption, digital processing capability, and design and
implementation optimization based on low cost.
Of great interest is also the use of SHM to study the soil in
which foundation structures are bound [6]. The geophysical
properties of fractured rock are determined by the intrinsic
properties of the solid, as well as the liquid and gaseous phases
filling fractures. The electrical properties of fractured rocks are
primarily determined by electrolytic conduction occurring
through fluid-filled fractures as well as ionic conduction in
the electrical double-layer forming at fracture-fluid interfaces
[6]. The sensors used for this type of monitoring are different.
The most typically employed are Fiber Bragg grating sensors
(FBG), strain gauges and piezoelectric sensors that are used to
measure strain, displacement, rotations, curvature and AE [2].
Geophysical methods are routinely used in site investiga-
tions and provide high-resolution information about discrete
fracture locations, lithology, fluid properties, and borehole
conditions. Commonly, a suite of logs will be collected be-
cause it is cost-effective. The software for data processing and
visualization is based on the comparisons of multiple logs col-
lected as a suite and provides valuable insight into the geologic
structure and fracture orientation statistics. Acoustic methods
provide information about the depth and orientation of dis-
crete fractures intersecting the structures under monitoring.
Synchronization in IoT-SHM
The distributed nature of IoT-SHM systems, together with the
necessity to study a dynamic phenomenon, require the corre-
lation in time of all of the measurement information acquired
by each SO. To this aim, each SO is equipped with a clock, and
typically they exchange synchronization messages to evalu-
ate the frequency and the offset of their clock with respect to
one taken as reference (master) or with respect to its neighbor
SO. In IoT scenarios, recent literature has highlighted the ad-
vantages of synchronization approaches based on peer to peer
approaches as consensus, since a master node is not necessary
and because they are suitable for dynamic topology of the net-
work and failure and reallocation of SO. Another aspect to be
highlighted is that, due to the layer structure of the IoT-SHM,
the synchronization requirements are not the same and typi-
cally decrease going up into the levels. This is justified by the
fact that in the top of the hierarchy, the high-level information
 Table 1 – Synchronization techniques for IoT-SHM system performance in different configuration
RBS FTSP
[μs] [μs]
max delay 3.13 669
Linear topology
average delay 1.85 538
max delay - 18
Lattice topology
average delay - 13
max delay 437
Ring topology
average delay 55
is used to generate alarms managed typically by humans,
where delay in the order of seconds can be acceptable. On the
other side, the higher levels of the structure mainly use the in-
ternet to communicate.
At lower levels of the IoT-SHM hierarchy, a typical task is
the localization of the damage. Passive acoustic localization
is used in the cases where the structure emits a recognizable
sound picked up by a distributed array of SO. Then, the source
position is reconstructed by measuring the difference in arrival
times [14]. This requires the SO to be synchronized up to a frac-
tion of the expected time differences of arrivals for the system
to be able to produce accurate location estimates. To this aim,
the SO clock has a resolution of microseconds and the synchro-
nization messages are exchanged on proprietary networks. In
the same structure, local area networks with particular routers
that give priority to the transmission of the synchronization
messages, or that compensate for the transmission delay, can
be deployed. In these cases synchronization accuracy in the
order of microseconds is still achievable. In fact, for the SHM
system the typical accuracy needed between the node is in the
range [0.6, 9.0] μs.
IoT-SHM Synchronization Methods
The performances of the IoT-SHM synchronization methods
are reported in Table 1. Among the methods used in the syn-
chronization [15] for this kind of application there are:
Reference broadcast synchronization (RBS): in which a refer-
ence node is used to send a reference message and receive the
messages from the other nodes in reply, estimating the time
offset for each node. Naturally, the limitation of this method is
related to the visibility of the reference node among all of the
nodes composing the system and that the number of nodes
must be limited. If this requirement cannot be satisfied the syn-
chronization accuracy decreases drastically.
Time sync protocol for sensor network (TPSN): also in this case,
there is a reference node but the synchronization process pre-
liminarily generates a hierarchical structure containing all of
the nodes and the visibility among the nodes is determined
assigning at each node a level. Once this structure is built the
reference node starts the propagation of the sense of time to
each inferior level.
Flooding time synchronization protocol (FTSP): is based on
the dynamic election of a global root node that propagates the
8 IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine December 2018
TPSN PulseSync FCSA GTSP ECGSync
[μs] [μs] [μs] [μs] [μs]
25 25 34 35
20 18 19 26 29
14 - -
11 - -
- - 10 14
- - 4 5
sense of time to its neighbors. The evaluation of the synchro-
nization time is performed by each node by using the time
information of the neighbors and a linear regression of these
data. The FTSP synchronizes the whole network by electing
a reference node based on the smallest node identifier which
serves as time source. The reference node periodically floods
its clock through the network.
PulseSync protocol: employs rapid-flooding to reduce
the effect of waiting times on the synchronization accuracy.
PulseSync propagates time information from a reference node
as fast as possible. Apart from the rapid flooding approach,
each node uses a linear regression table to estimate the clock of
the reference node, as in FTSP.
Flooding with clock speed agreement (FCSA): utilizes flooding
together with clock speed agreement to optimize the synchro-
nization error between the reference node and the remaining
nodes in the network. This approach leads to a significant ad-
vantage: FCSA can be used for synchronizing sensor network
to a stable time source.
Gradient time synchronization protocol (GTSP): aims at opti-
mizing local skew in WSNs. GTSP is completely decentralized,
and synchronization messages received from neighboring
nodes are used to adjust clocks. Using a simple algorithm
based on averaging the time information received from neigh-
bors, the sensor nodes agree on a common clock frequency
and clock value. As a consequence, each sensor node synchro-
nizes to its neighboring nodes and there is not any special node
which acts as a time reference.
External gradient time synchronization protocol (EGSync):
each sensor node synchronizes to a reference node by using
time information flooded by this node, as well as synchro-
nizes to its neighboring nodes by employing an agreement
algorithm. Hence, EGSync is able to achieve external synchro-
nization by optimizing the synchronization error among the
neighboring nodes.
The synchronization performances are guaranteed
among the SOs in the same network. However, at this level
of the hierarchy, the internet is typically used to trans-
mit an alarm [14], and robust communication based on
message queuing telemetry transport with reception of ac-
knowledgment guarantees the reception of the alarm by
the authorities in charge of inspecting buildings or manag-
ing hazards.
IoT-SHM System Benefits
The immediate positive effects of an IoT-SHM are the drastic
reduction of the monitoring costs and the increasing safety for
humans due to the continuous monitoring. In fact, it is possi-
ble to reduce the development time of the monitoring system,
and its implementation can involve wireless technologies that
do not require the cabling of the network. In this way it is pos-
sible to integrate the monitoring system into new and existing
structures, with low invasive operation.
The integration of IoT-SHM in domotics and smart cities
will permit the optimization of the monitoring on wider area.
Likewise, maintaining structural integrity for longer pe-
riods of time reduces overall costs related to demolition and
rebuilding.
Conclusions
This paper presents an overview of IoT based SHM systems
for the evaluation of the safety of a structure. The advantages
of the IoT paradigm in implementing the SHM monitoring
system are highlighted with several actual examples, with the
aim to boost the effort of scientific research in this direction.
Among several application scenarios, particular importance
is the monitoring of building materials through acoustic emis-
sion. This is a technique that will have great potential for
development of IoT-SHM and allow systems with reduced
battery consumption to continuously monitor existing and
new structures.
The IoT-SHM system is well adapted to application scenar-
ios such as smart houses and smart cities, boosting on one side
safety for humans and goods and on the other side reducing
the costs of periodic monitoring.
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Carmelo Scuro (carmelo.scuro@unical.it) has a research grant
at the University of Calabria. He received the master's de-
gree in engineering and architecture and the Ph.D. degree in
structural mechanics from the University of Calabria, Rende,
Italy in 2012 and 2017, respectively. His current research inter-
ests include the analysis of the fracture in the brittle materials
through the use of acoustic emissions and structural moni-
toring systems, mechanical and physical characterization of
traditional masonry techniques, experimentation on FRCM,
microtomography, rapid prototyping and 3D printing.
Paolo Francesco Sciammarella is a Ph.D. student with the De-
partment of Computer Sciences, Modeling, Electronics, and
System Science, University of Calabria, Rende, Italy. His cur-
rent research activity involves IoT application to distributed
measurement systems and cyber physical systems.
Francesco Lamonaca (M'10) (flamonaca@unisannio.it) is
Associate Professor of Electronic Measurement with the De-
partment of Engineering, University of Sannio, Benevento,
Italy. He received the M.S. degree in computer science engi-
neering in 2005 and the Ph.D. degree in computer and system
science in 2010 from the University of Calabria, Italy. He
earned doctorate equivalences in science and engineering
continued on page 14
the M.Eng. and the Ph.D. degrees in mechatronic engineering
from the University of Trento in 2010 and 2014, respectively.
Teruhiro Mizumoto (teruhiro-m@is.naist.jp) is Assistant Pro-
fessor of Ubiquitous Computing Laboratory with the Nara
Institute of Science and Technology, Japan, where he has been
since 2016. His current research interests are ubiquitous com-
puting, human measurement and social systems engineering.
He is a member of IPSJ and IEEE.
Hiroiko Suwa (h-suwa@is.naist.jp) has been an Assistant Profes-
sor of Ubiquitous Computing Laboratory with the Nara Institute
of Science and Technology, Japan since 2014. His current research
interests are social informatics, real data mining and social net-
work analysis. He is a member of IEICE, IPSJ, and IEEE.
Keiichi Yasumoto (yasumoto@is.naist.jp) is currently a profes-
sor of the Graduate School of Science and Technology at Nara
continued from page 9
science from the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium in 2010
and 2011, respectively.
Renato Sante Olivito (renato.olivito@unical.it) is a Full Pro-
fessor of Structural Mechanics with the Department of Civil
Engineering University of Calabria, Rende, Italy, where he
has remained in a variety of research and management po-
sitions. He has authored or co-authored more than 150
papers published in international journals and conference
proceedings. His current research interests include ecosus-
tainable composite materials as a strengthening of modern
14 IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine December 2018
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Institute of Science and Technology, Japan and his research in-
terests include distributed systems, mobile computing, and
ubiquitous computing. He received the B.E., M.E., and Ph.D.
degrees in information and computer sciences from Osaka
University in 1991, 1993 and 1996, respectively.
Mariolino De Cecco (mariolino.dececco@unitn.it) is Associ-
ate Professor of Mechanical Measurements and Robotics at
the University of Trento, Italy. Prof. De Cecco heads the MIRo
(Measurement, Instrumentation and Robotics) Laboratory
where his main fields of research are measurements, robotics
and space. Dr. De Cecco supports the framework of interna-
tional projects such as UNCAP H2020, VERITAS FP7 IP, and
AGILE Eurostars. Co. He was an investigator of OSIRIS pay-
load of ROSETTA-ESA Cornerstone Mission and participated
with the LISA TEAM (LISA-ESA Cornerstone Mission). He
serves as co-proposer and member of the steering committee
of the AUSILIA project.
and historical masonry construction, experimentation on
FRCM and monitoring of structures through the use of acous-
tic emissions.
Domenico Luca Carnì (dlcarni@dimes.unical.it) is Assistant
Professor of Electric and Electronic Measurements with the
Department of Informatics, Modeling, Electronics and Sys-
tems, University of Calabria. He achieved his master's degree
in computer engineering from the University of Calabria in
2003. In 2006, he received the Ph.D. degree in systems and com-
puter engineering from the same university.