A low cost distributed measurement systems based on hall effect sensors for structural crack monitoring in monumental architecture

In this paper the authors discuss a low-cost distributed monitoring system for structural crack monitoring in monumental architectures. The proposed solution is suitable to monitor widely extended areas like the Siena's ancient city walls. The prototype sensing system, based on Hall sensor technology, has been designed to reach a displacement resolution in the order of tens of micrometers. The distributed measures are transmitted using a wireless communication network, based on a mesh topology, to a server receiving, collecting, post-processing and storing the data in a database.