Experimental verification of a wireless sensing and control system for structural control using MR dampers

The performance aspects of a wireless ‘active’ sensor, including the reliability of the wireless communi-
cation channel for real-time data delivery and its application to feedback structural control, are explored
in this study. First, the control of magnetorheological (MR) dampers using wireless sensors is examined.
Second, the application of the MR-damper to actively control a half-scale three-storey steel building ex-
cited at its base by shaking table is studied using a wireless control system assembled from wireless active
sensors. With an MR damper installed on each floor (three dampers total), structural responses during
seismic excitation are measured by the system’s wireless active sensors and wirelessly communicated to
each other; upon receipt of response data, the wireless sensor interfaced to each MR damper calculates a
desired control action using an LQG controller implemented in the wireless sensor’s computational core.
In this system, the wireless active sensor is responsible for the reception of response data, determination
of optimal control forces, and the issuing of command signals to the MR damper. Various control solu-
tions are formulated in this study and embedded in the wireless control system including centralized and
decentralized control algorithms. Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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