Characterization of Six-Degree-of-Freedom Sensors for Building Health Monitoring

Area of Science:

• Structural Engineering
• Geophysics
• Sensor Technology

Background:

• Six-degree-of-freedom (6DoF) sensors provide collocated translation and rotation measurements, crucial for autonomous building motion analysis.
• Building health monitoring relies on parameters like interstory drift and eigenfrequencies to assess structural stability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To characterize the IMU50 6DoF sensor for its suitability in building health monitoring applications.
• To evaluate sensor calibration methods and assess self-noise and temperature effects.

Main Methods:

• Sensor calibration using step table methods and comparison with Earth's rotation and gravity.
• Self-noise analysis via power spectral density and Allan deviation in a controlled environment.
• Testing the impact of temperature variations (14–50 °C) on sensor performance.

Main Results:

• Calibration methods were found to be comparable.
• Sensor self-noise in rotation components increased with temperature, while acceleration components decreased.
• IMU50 sensors demonstrated insufficient sensitivity for ambient building health monitoring in the frequency domain.

Conclusions:

• 6DoF sensors are generally not sensitive enough for ambient building health monitoring.
• These sensors show potential for monitoring interstory drift and building motion during significant seismic events.