A long-range wide-area network system for monitoring early-age concrete compressive strength

Estimating the compressive strength of concrete at an early age is critical for quality control and management of concrete construction. Although previous studies have made significant efforts to automate this process, they all have shortcomings regarding the long transmission range needed for a typical construction site and the corresponding power consumption. The present study uses a long-range wide-area network (LoRaWAN) system, a relatively new wireless sensor network technology, to overcome these limitations. In addition to the long transmission range, the features like low power consumption and cloud connectivity available with the system are essentially required for large construction sites. An energy harvesting unit is integrated with the proposed system to make it environment-friendly by reducing the carbon footprint significantly. The efficacy of the proposed system is demonstrated for real-time monitoring of early-age concrete compressive strength using the maturity method through laboratory and field experiments considering a typical concrete mix.