Field and laboratory record
Every result starts with hardware that has to survive a real structure. This page collects the instruments developed and patented at UPC, their calibration against reference-grade equipment, and the monitoring campaigns where they were deployed — on bridges, footbridges, railway structures and heritage buildings in Spain, Germany and China.
Two patented instruments
LARA — Low-cost Adaptable Reliable Accelerometer/Angle-meter — is a patented UPC device that works both as an accelerometer for modal analysis and as an inclinometer for tilt monitoring. It combines several MEMS units on a 40 × 40 mm board to cut noise, with Arduino and Raspberry Pi handling acquisition and NTP time synchronisation across sensors.
CORTEX is a patented low-cost IoT corrosimeter. It measures the electrical resistance of an ER probe with an 18-bit ADC, compensating for temperature and humidity, to track how fast corrosion is consuming steel and reinforced concrete. Autonomous nodes stream readings over 4G, LoRa or NB-IoT for remote configuration and alarms.
| Type | MEMS accelerometer / inclinometer |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 40 × 40 × 5 mm |
| Measurement range (accelerometer) | ± 2.0 g |
| Noise density | 51 µg/√Hz |
| Resolution | 31 µg |
| Frequency response | 0 – 61 Hz |
| Sampling rate | 333 Hz |
| Sensitivity | 625 mV/g |
| Precision (inclinometer) | 0.002° static · 0.02° dynamic |
| Operating temperature | −40 °C to +85 °C |
| Power consumption | 200 mA @ 5 V |
| Protection | IP67 · Ethernet or USB |
Calibration
Before any structure is instrumented, each device is calibrated on a shaker bench against reference-grade piezoelectric accelerometers (PCB 356B18 and PCB 393A03). The same comparison is then repeated on real structures against commercial systems such as HI-INC, DEWE2 and IMI 607A61 — matching eigenfrequencies within about 1 % and mode shapes with MAC values above 0.97.
Field campaigns
Peer-reviewed output
The instruments and campaigns above underpin a continuing series of JCR journal papers. A selection with direct links:
Contact
These systems are available for research collaboration, pilot deployments and consulting with companies and public administrations in Spain and the EU.