Australian Journal of Electrical and Electronics

Engineering

ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tele20

Efficient crack detection and quantification in

concrete structures using IoT

Ajay Nair, Hemalatha R, P Sangeetha, Harish Kumar K, Dinesh Kumar P,

Inakota Sai Sahith & S. Radha

To cite this article: Ajay Nair, Hemalatha R, P Sangeetha, Harish Kumar K, Dinesh Kumar P,
Inakota Sai Sahith & S. Radha (2021) Efficient crack detection and quantification in concrete
structures using IoT, Australian Journal of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, 18:1, 43-57,
DOI: 10.1080/1448837X.2021.1914905
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/1448837X.2021.1914905

Published online: 26 Apr 2021.

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AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING
2021, VOL. 18, NO. 1, 43–57
https://doi.org/10.1080/1448837X.2021.1914905

Efficient crack detection and quantification in concrete structures using IoT

Ajay Naira, Hemalatha Ra, P Sangeethab, Harish Kumar Ka, Dinesh Kumar Pb, Inakota Sai Sahithb and S. Radhaa
a
Dept of Electronics and Communication, Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India; bDept of Civil, Sri
Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Now-a-days public transit in our country has a significant usage of bridges and tunnels. Received 1 September 2020
Maintaining the safety of such structures becomes the need of the hour. Cracking can Accepted 7 April 2021
invite sudden failures of concrete structures. Within recent years, there has been an increase KEYWORDS
in the use of image processing techniques as Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) method to Cracks; pattern classification;
detect defects and anomalies in such structures. Hence, this work presents an efficient image morphological processing;
proces- sing model for identifying and quantifying the cracks in common structures using NDT; IoT
two algo- rithms. The first algorithm uses pattern classification method to classify the
identified specimens as crack or not. This pattern classification algorithm is tested and
evaluated with the test specimens of structures having induced cracks. The second algorithm
called morpho- logical processing uses an efficient thresholding strategy to improve the
detection accuracy of the cracks. Here the aim is to detect even the faintest of cracks and
magnify them. Thus, any one of the algorithms can be adopted depending on the
application. The developed algo- rithms have been tested in real field at the final stage
and achieved a detection accuracy of nearly 96.37%and all the obtained images have
been stored digitally on a web server.

1. Introduction approach but requires adaptation to the surface for

Image Processing is a Non-Destructive Evaluation
(NDE) method and has been developed to detect
exist- ing surface deteriorations including
delamination and voids in concrete. Traditionally,
bridges have been inspected by hammer sounding
and/or chain drag, and visual inspections by qualified
engineers and inspectors; however, these methods
require a lot of field labour and lane closures,
especially for bridge deck inspections (Yehia et al.
2007). Cracks are one of the major defects found in
civil structures. They can be viewed as a form of
discontinuity that appears on the surface of the
structure and correspond to darker regions of the
image. Many of these cracks might be harmless.
However, the failure to detect harmful cracks can
become very costly over a period of time. As more
and more civil structures get built over the years with
older ones more prone to damage, it becomes
unfeasible to manually inspect each structure for
defects. Hence, it is essential to develop an effective
automatic crack detection model.
Crack detection can be performed by choosing an
initial set of seed points and growing them (Oliveira
and LobatoCorreia 2017) but it takes a large number
of iterations to converge to the result. Moreover, it
does not calculate the crack properties. The road sur-
face crack detection algorithm in (Gavilán et al. 2011)
provides good results for different road surfaces and
performs connection operation by minimum distance
best results and involves a large number of compu-
tations. The image acquisition setup is also expen-
sive. It is desired to obtain the best results using
a minimal cost setup. The methods provided in
(Zhang et al. 2014a) give an insight into simpler
crack detection and classification, with crack quan-
tification; however, pre-processing requires high-
performance hardware equipment. The author in
(Hoang 2018) presented a novel thresholding
method to highlight the crack regions along with
crack parameter estimation but failed to remove the
falsely detected artefacts. Simple edge detection
ideas with false positives were also presented
(Dongna et al. 2012). Moreover, curve fitting mod-
els are used to identify the cracks. The Hough
transform is a good tool for identifying line seg-
ments in the data, and have been used in crack
detection systems (Nashat, Abdullah, and Abdullah
2011) but it does not work well when the cracks are
not perfectly straight. The top hat transform is used
to detect cracks with a simple segmentation method
in (Giakoumis, Nikolaidis, and Pitas 2006). Even
misidentified cracks are also corrected. However,
the crack detection is not so efficient when they
cross the border between two regions. The detec-
tion method used in (Landstrom and Thurley 2012)
was found to yield good results when cracks are
long and connected in nature. It utilises the

CONTACT Hemalatha R hemalathar@ssn.edu.in Dept of Electronics and Communication, Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering,
Chennai, Tamilnadu, India
© Engineers Australia
44 A. NAIR ET
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Figure 1. (a)Shrinkage cracks (b) Hairline crack.

method of filling the gaps between cracks but it can The paper is organised as follows. Information on
turn up with relatively more number of false posi- the different types of crack is given in section 2.
tives. Methods for more specific applications such Section 3 briefs about the proposed model. Section 4
as cracks in tunnels and underground pipes are provides the performance evaluation and section 5
also proposed which extract characteristic shapes explains the IoT (Internet of Things)-based monitoring.
of such cracks for detection (Sinha and Fieguth Finally, section 6 concludes the paper with future
2006) (Seung-Nam, Jang, and Han 2007). work.
An effective segmentation method to identify crack
was proposed by Long et al. (Long, Shen, and Chen
2012). It was enabled through grey level correction 2. Overview of cracks
and adaptive minimum error threshold but could not
Cracking can occur due to various reasons such as
classify cracks. Han et al. (Han et al. 2016) used an
thermal stresses, chemical reaction, corrosion of rein-
interactive genetic algorithm and determined the
forcement or simply poor construction practices such
edges of the cracks and calculated its geometric para-
as poor concrete mix or rapid curing. Cracks can be of
meters through intensive calculations. The combina-
different types such as alligator, transversal or long-
tion of Canny edge detector and support vector
itudinal (Ajagbe and Ojedele 2018) (Md. et al. 2018).
machine was used to detect cracks. This enhanced
The other types are shrinkage and hairline cracks as
the ability to extract contours but struggled with
shown in Figure 1, which may result in leakage.
cracks [Li et al. (Shi et al. 2016)]. Similarly, Canny
Horizontal, vertical and diagonal cracks are charac-
edge detection has been used along with fast Haar
terised by how they are oriented in the structure.
transform algorithm for crack detection but, suffered
Alligator cracks occur as a V shape. Settlement cracks
with false crack detection. In addition, the method
may occur if there are problems with respect to the
could not extract crack pixels. The width of the cracks
underlying ground.
was also measured using labelling based on Red-Green
Manual introduction of cracks is performed in the
-Blue (RGB) colour information (Hutchinson and
laboratory to generate a data base. This involves mak-
Chen 2006).
ing of the test specimen in the desired shape as shown
It is also to be noted that a single algorithm for in Figure 2.
crack detection is not always expected to give Curing is done for about a month. After a couple of
efficient results for all practical situations. Some hours of dryness it is kept in an oven for an hour for
structures might have a large number of cracks with hardening. Then, cracks are introduced by the univer-
lesser major ones for repair purposes. Other sal testing machine by applying the desired load as
structures may have few minute cracks but each crack shown in Figure 3.
might have to be detected to ensure the safety of that
structure. Hence, the two proposed crack detection
algorithms will cater correspondingly to the needs of 3. Proposed system model
the afore- mentioned problems. The combination of
The proposed system can be visualised based on a
algorithms proposed in this paper is more efficient in
flow diagram as shown in Figure 4.
detecting even the finest cracks compared to the
The proposed system can be segmented into
complex algo- rithms (Zhang et al. 2014a). Moreover,
three major sections: the image processing, IoT-
real-time mon- itoring methodologies are also
based monitoring and the crack measurements
illustrated to ensure seamless implementation.
and analysis section. The system has two algo-
rithms for crack detection either of which can
 AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING 45

Figure 2. (a) Sample specimen (b) Specimen undergoing load test.

Figure 3. Vertical crack introduced (a) on cube (b) on cylinder.

Figure 4. Proposed system model.

be used depending on the application, along with

an IoT-based monitoring system. The first algo-
rithm optimally detects the presence of true
cracks and highlights them. This algorithm aims
to eliminate maximum false positives generated
due to inappropriate lighting conditions.
The second algorithm highlights the presence of
even the finest of cracks. This is useful in appli-
cations where even the slightest of cracking could
be a potential threat for the future. This proposed
system has been implemented in real time by
hosting a web server that can monitor cracks
from a remote location.
3.1.Pattern classification algorithm
Pattern classification algorithm in Figure 5 is used in
this paper to classify a given specimen as crack or not
a crack. It is applicable to a multi-class condition.
The distance of each specimen from each of the
classes is measured and the class with minimum
distance is where the specimen belongs.
The image database is created by collecting
a large number of similar images of various regions
of cracks. The acquired image is first converted to
greyscale. The quality of input image can be sig-
nificantly improved by preprocessing. It may
46 A. NAIR ET
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Figure 5. Classification algorithm flow diagram.

 AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING
include the removal of noisy regions or improving
the lighting. Further denoising can be performed
using a median filter which essentially smoothens
the image. Median filtering preserves the image
edges while removing the noise. A 3 × 3 kernel is
used which takes the median of values in the
neighbourhood and replaces the centre pixel with
it. A large kernel size is good for high noise den-
sities but will excessively blur the image. Next,
binarization is used to convert pixel values to bin-
ary as expressed in Equation (1).
fb(x) = �0ifx T
(1)
1ifx ≤
>T
where T is the selected threshold and fb x is the
binarized image. ( )
The selection of threshold is a critical step in order
to optimally detect and separate cracks from the
image. Here a statistical analysis is used to determine
the appropriate threshold. The greyscale peak value
(N) is obtained using the histogram and is taken as the
initial threshold. If the output is not satisfactory, the
threshold is manually reduced by 1 pixel increments.
Generally, a threshold of around N-8 to N-10 was
found to be suitable by experimentation. For a set of
images under a certain lighting, threshold will most
likely not change. This is followed by image
segmenta- tion and labelling. Segmentation involves
partitioning the image into its constituent parts.
Labelling is done on the image to identify possible
regions of cracks. This requires extraction of features
pertaining to cracks. The features used for crack
detection are ratio of major to minor axis and number
of pixels. The ratio of major to minor axis for a
typical crack is a large value. The input image is
given to the two-layer feed- forward network to
perform crack classification in MATLAB (Matrix
Laboratory Simulation Tool). It is trained using scaled
conjugate gradient back propaga- tion. Data for
classification is organised into the input matrix X and
the target matrix T. Here, a selection of 15 neurons
was able to provide good results. Half of the samples
are used for training and remaining part for testing
and validation. Its performance is moni- tored using
cross entropy and confusion matrices. The final
output is obtained after the phases of training, testing
and prediction.
3.2.Morphological processing algorithm
The advantage of morphological image processing for
crack detection is that even the thinnest of cracks can
be detected and magnified so that it can be easily
treated.
Erosion: The structuring element is moved over the
entire image. If even one pixel of the structuring ele-
ment overlaps with the background, then the centre
47
pixel is replaced with the background pixel. This pro-
cess helps to remove foreground regions of the image.
Dilation: The opposite process from erosion
wherein if even one pixel of the structuring element
overlaps with the foreground image, then the centre
pixel is replaced with the foreground pixel. This pro-
cess helps to increase the number of foreground pixels.
Closing: Closing is dilation followed by erosion.
This morphological algorithm is represented in
Figure 6.
(1) Preprocessing: The image is filtered out by using
Gaussian blur to remove unwanted noise components.
It is convolved with a Gaussian filter rather than a box
filter which replaces each pixel with a weighted aver-
age of the neighbouring pixels. It is used to remove
the high-frequency components. Here, a 3 × 3
Gaussian filter governed by Equation (2) is traversed
over the image.
� �
1 —(x2 + y2)
G( x) = exp (2)
2σ2
2πσ2
where G(x) is the expression for the Gaussian filter in
two dimensions.
Larger the standard deviation (σ), greater is the
image blurring. It is important to preserve image qual-
ity along with reducing noise and so it is not advisable
to go for larger values of σ. Here σ = 1 is found to suit
our requirements.
(1) Bottom hat transform: This is the subtraction of
image closing by original image. This helps to obtain
darkest regions of the image and remove most of the
background components (Zhang et al. 2014b). The
appropriate choice of the structuring element will
enhance the results. Generally, the shape of the struc-
turing element is chosen as close as possible to the
shape that is to be highlighted. Hence, a rectangular
structural element is used. If the size of this element is
too small, it takes a longer time to completely traverse
the image thereby reducing its efficiency and can
bring up more noise elements. When larger, the
desired regions are found to be thicker but can miss
out on some small-sized cracks. Here, a size of 15 ×
15 is found suitable to meet the desired requirements
of highlighting the crack region as a clear output
image. The operation can be depicted by the
Equations (3) &
(4) as follows.
A_ = A ● B = (A + B) — B (3)
Anew= A_ — —A (4)
Here A, A_ , Anew are the original, closed and output
images, respectively, and B is the structuring element.
+ and– represent dilation and erosion operations
respectively.{\displaystyle\ominus} =
(2) Thresholding: The image thresholding is per-
formed using Otsu’s method (Yang et al. 2012). This
48 A. NAIR ET
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Image Acquisition

Gray Scaling

Gaussian Blur

Bottom Hat Transform

Otsu Thresholding

Noise Removal
Figure 6. Morphological algorithm flow diagram.

method involves selecting a particular threshold and connected and seem isolated, they can easily be
checking the number of pixels on either side. The aim removed as they behave as noise components.
is to find the threshold value where the sum of fore-
ground and background spreads is at its minimum. It
is suitable for images with a bimodal histogram dis- 4. Performance evaluation
tribution. This helps to clearly visualise the crack
regions but along with it, a number of salt noises can Dice: Dice is the ratio of twice the intersection
also occur. between the segmentation image and the ground truth
to its summation. Equation (5) shows the formula for
(3) Noise Removal: The final image can be
the Dice metric (Umeha, Hemalatha, and Radha
obtained by removing all the noise components.
2018).
Removal of isolated or sparsely distributed pixels will
effectively remove the noise, which requires the 2(A ∩B)
Dice (5)
knowledge of pixel connectivity. The image is =
A+B
segmented into its constituent components. When
where A is the segmented image and B is the ground
pixels are hardly
truth.
 AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING
Jaccard index: Jaccard index is the ratio between
the intersection and union of the segmented result and
the ground truth. Equation (6) shows the formula for
the Jaccard index (Umeha, Hemalatha, and Radha
2018).
A ∩B
Jaccard = (6)
A∪
where A is the segmented image and B is the ground
truth.
Emeasure: E-measure is defined by Equation (7)
and uses the enhanced alignment matrix φ to capture
the pixel-level matching and image-level statistics of
a binary map.
w h
1 X X
QFM = FM( x;y) (7)
w×h = =
ϕ x
1 y 1
where h and w are the height and the width of the
binary map, respectively, and ϕFM is the enhanced
alignment matrix (Fan et al. 2018).
These provide a measure of closeness of output
image from the neural network with the ground
truth image, which can otherwise be termed as accu-
racy of classification.
4.1.Pattern classification algorithm
Crack detection has been performed using pattern
classification method and various experimental
results are obtained. Figure 7 shows a portion of
images used in evaluating the system
performance.
From Figure.7 it is clear that superior results
are obtained using the classification algorithm.
Large numbers of false positives are observed in
the LDP (Local Directional Pattern) based imple-
mentation output and heavier noise corruption is
evident. Based on comparison with the ground
truth image, the Dice, Jaccard and E-measure
metrics and the accuracy of the classification are
calculated and provided in Table 1.
From the pattern classification method of crack
detec-
tion, fairly good results are obtained with reasonable
accuracy. The primary advantage of this method is
that it is suitable for detection of even a large number
of cracks on the surface of the specimen with better
accu- racy when compared to (Zhang et al. 2014a).
Also it enables a very low percentage of false-positive
detection. However, the disadvantage is that minute
cracks might not be detected with good accuracy. The
proposed algo- rithm is implemented in the on-board
processor with lesser complexity.
49
4.2. Morphological processing algorithm
The results obtained using morphological proces-
sing algorithm are displayed as shown in Figure 8.
Improper thresholding due to poor contrast in the
image has resulted in poor output image quality in the
base algorithm. However, proposed morphological
processing gives a more magnified and lucid view of
the cracks. It is advantageous for detection of
even minute cracks. The algorithm can be tweaked to
show even the smallest of defects. The drawback is
that the detection of false positives cannot be
avoided easily. Figure 9 shows how the algorithm
can be tweaked to show varying levels of the
defects on
a surface.
5. Iot-Based Monitoring
A complete crack detection and estimation model can
be implemented using a Raspberry pi (RPi) setup. The
monitoring system consists of an RPi and the Pi
camera (PiCam). The web server is hosted by the RPi
and can be accessed by the user on any device by
connecting to its IP address. A python program is
used to implement morphological image processing
algorithm to process the images. The image of cracks
can be uploaded from the device or it can be taken
remotely using the RPi and uploaded to the server.
The PiCam is also used to perform live streaming to
get a real-time view of the inspected structure. The
inputs as well as processed images are displayed on
the web server which is acces- sible from any device
connected to the internet.
The Web server setup comprises of the following:
(1) Web Server: Web Server is an integral part of
the system being designed. A web server on RPi can be
used to host a full website, or just used to display some.
A Web server can be accessed through the RPi
remotely through a laptop by using SSH (Secure Shell).
It is a cryptographic network protocol that ensures
secure data transfer between computer and RPi.
Apache is a popular web server, which is a program
that listens for server access requests from Internet
browsers and grants them if per- mitted. The web
servers can be accessed using its IP address.
(2) Internet Framework: Python is used to deploy
the web server on the RPi. The bottle web framework
architecture is used to make and enable web requests.
It is a simple and lightweight structure which comes
with inbuilt servers and can be used to perform var-
ious routing functions.
(3) Live Streaming: The RPi camera can be used to
scan the civil structure and the live video can be
accessed using any device by connecting to the RPi.
50 A. NAIR ET
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Figure 7. A) Input Images b) LDP-based segmentation output c) Proposed classification algorithm-based segmentation output.
 AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING 51

Table 1. Comparison of the performance evaluation metrics.

Evaluation Metrics
LDP Algorithm(Zhang et al. 2014a) Proposed Algorithm
Input Images Dice Jaccard Accuracy E-measure Dice Jaccard Accuracy E-measure
Image 1 0.6156 0.4446 80.48% 0.2830 0.9783 0.9576 95.12% 0.9976
Image 2 0.5265 0.3573 91% 0.3024 0.9598 0.9227 98.72% 0.9437
Image 3 0.5705 0.3991 84.84% 0.2803 0.9462 0.8980 93.94% 0.9273
Image 4 0.7872 0.6491 84% 0.6560 0.9268 0.8636 96% 0.9827
Image 5 0.5978 0.4263 80% 0.2942 0.9674 0.9368 96.67% 0.9862
Image 6 0.6459 0.4770 84.37% 0.8127 0.9481 0.9012 96.9% 0.9959
Image 7 0.6863 0.5224 91.17% 0.9303 0.8396 0.7235 94.1% 0.9825
Image 8 0.6971 0.5350 89.74% 0.8857 0.9034 0.8238 97.4% 0.9960
Image 9 0.0176 0.0089 78.94% 0.2542 0.8722 0.7733 94.7% 0.9772
Image 10 0.2338 0.1324 92.63% 0.4583 0.9274 0.8646 97.9% 0.9871

Figure 8. (a) Input Images (b) LDP-based segmentation output (c) Morphological processing algorithm-based segmentation
output.
52 A. NAIR ET
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Figure 9. (a) Original greyscale image (b) Output after morphological processing (c) Output after noise reduction.

Figure 10. Experimental Setup of RPi with (a) PiCam and (b) an LCD Display.

Figure 11. (a) Upload webpage (b) Database webpage.

From the live video, one can capture photos instantly
and then use these photos for processing.
5.1.Real-time implementation
The experimental setup consists of RPi and PiCam.
This setup can be placed on any civil structure for
continuous monitoring of the structure. The PiCam
can be used to take images whenever desired by the
user. This image is sent to the web server for proces-
sing. The captured image as well as the processed
image is displayed as output on the web server. The
morpho- logical processing algorithm has been
implemented in Python in the RPi
(https://www.raspberrypi.org). The experimental
setup is done as shown in Figure 10.
Sample of the web pages is shown in Figure 11.
The upload page asks the user to upload the image to
be processed or the PiCam can be used. The
database
 AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING 53

Figure 12. Live streaming.

Figure 13. (a) Segmented Output 1 (b) Crack measurement results.

Figure 14. (a) Segmented Output2 (b) Crack measurement results.

page displays the results. These operations can be

done remotely from any location.
To obtain a real-time view of the structure to be
inspected, live-streaming feature has been provided
for continuous monitoring. This process is shown in
Figure 12.
5.2.Measurements and analysis
Once the cracks have been identified and processed,
the next step is to analyse it by performing certain
calculations to determine the potential harm that the
crack could possibly impart to the structure under test.
54 A. NAIR ET
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Figure 15. (a) Segmented output 1 (b) Confusion matrix.

Figure 16. (a) Segmented output2 (b) Confusion matrix.

Figure 17. (a) Segmented output 3 (b) Confusion matrix.

Also it provides the accuracy of crack detection. repaired. Such quantitative parameters obtained make
Thus, once all the parameters are obtained one has it easier to ensure a cost-effective treatment of the
to take a decision on when the structure becomes affected structure.
ready to be
 AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING 55

Figure 18. (a) Segmented output 4 (b) Confusion matrix.

Figure 19. (a) Segmented output 5 (b) Confusion matrix.

Table 2. Metric values.

Metric Image 1 Image 2 Image 3 Image 4 Image 5 Image 6 Image 7 Image 8 Image 9 Image 10
Accuracy 95.12% 98.72% 93.94% 98.3% 96.6% 96.9% 94.1% 97.4% 94.7% 97.9%
True Positive 22 20 23 35 19 11 12 13 12 36
False Positive 2 1 2 0 1 0 2 1 1 2
False Negative 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
True Negative 17 57 7 24 39 20 20 25 6 57
Precision 0.917 0.952 0.92 1 0.95 1 0.86 0.93 0.92 0.95
Recall 1 1 1 0.972 1 0.92 1 1 1 1

5.2.1. Crack dimensions the various connected components. Distance between

Measurement of crack parameters is essential to get the two farthest points in a connected component
the crack characteristics and adopt a certain treatment gives the crack length. Crack Area is determined by
mechanism. The number of pixels is obtained from the num- ber of pixels in the crack. A large crack area
but a small
56 A. NAIR ET
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length means that the width of the crack is large.
Crack Average width is given by the perpendicular
distance between the two end pixels of the midpoint
of the line joining the two farthest pixels. A larger
crack width usually implies that the associated
structure is more severely affected. Each of these
measurements is done for the largest crack, which has
the potential to cause maximum harm. These
measured parameters give an idea of how large the
crack is and if it is of immediate concern. Figure 13
and Figure 14 show the measure- ment results of the
largest crack for the particular image.
5.2.2. Evaluation metrics
The metrics which contribute to the overall analysis
of the crack detection method are calculated in this
section for the five images which are used in the
classification algorithm. The processed images for
few samples are shown in Figures 15-19 along with
their confusion matrices. This will enable the cal-
culation of the metrics. Table 2 summarises the
metric values obtained from the test images.
From Table 2 it is inferred that the proposed algo-
rithm achieves a detection accuracy of nearly 96.37%
on an average with better precision. The accuracy is
calculated with reference to the manually built ground
truth.
6. Conclusions and future work
The presented paper elaborated on two techniques of
crack detection and backed it up with a real-time
crack detection model. The first technique did crack
detec- tion by measuring how well the cracks
correlate with standard parameters. This method
ensures high crack detection accuracy and will
significantly reduce false positives. The second
technique used morphological processing which
detects and highlights even the faint- est of cracks.
This method is particularly useful when even the
smallest of cracks is of due concern. Depending on
the application, either of the processing techniques
can be used. Further the hosting of a web server
enables remote monitoring of a structure using IoT.
Also the quality of images that are taken can be
improved with the help of a camera with higher reso-
lution. This monitoring system can be integrated with
a mobile robot to allow scanning of the entire struc-
ture. Moreover, the correlation between the size and
type of cracks can be examined to comprehend the
complexity and severity associated with it in real
scenarios.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the
author(s).
Funding
This work was supported by the SSN Trust under Student
Internal Funding Project;SSN Trust;
Notes on contributors
Ajay Nair obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Department of
Electronics and Communication Engineering from Sri
Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering,
Tamilnadu, India.
R. Hemalatha is an Associate Professor in the Department
of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Sri
Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering,
Tamilnadu, India. Her area of interest includes Wireless
Multimedia Sensor Networks, Image Processing, and IoT.
P. Sangeetha is an Associate Professor in the Department
of Civil Engineering, Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College
of Engineering, Tamilnadu, India. She completed her B.E
(Civil), MS (Research), and Ph.D from college of
Engineering, Guindy, Anna University. Her area of interest
includes composite space truss, steel concrete composite,
cold formed steel sections and finite element analysis.
Harish Kumar Kobtained his Bachelor’s degree
in Department of Electronics and Communication
Engineering from Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of
Engineering, Tamilnadu, India.
P. Dinesh Kumar , obtained his Bachelor’s degree in
Department of Civil Engineering from Sri
Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering,
Tamilnadu, India.
Sai Sahith I, obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Department
of Civil Engineering from Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar
College of Engineering, Tamilnadu, India.
S. Radha is the Professor and Head of the Department of
Electronics and Communication Engineering, Sri
Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering,
Tamilnadu, India. Her area of interest includes Wireless
Sensor networks, energy harvesting devices, MEMS,
NEMS, IoT and cognitive radios.
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