International Conference on Deep Excavations (ICDE) 2008

Reducing False Alerts by improving Vibrating Wire Strain Gauge Data Quality using Fast Fourier Transform
G.H. Tan, SysEng (S) Pte Ltd, Y.K. Poh, SysEng (S) Pte Ltd, N.H. Osborne, Land Transport Authority, Singapore, C. C. Ng, Land Transport Authority, Singapore, J.M. Brownjohn, University of Sheffield, U.K.

ABSTRACT: In Real Time Monitoring and Alert System, which uses Vibrating Wire Strain Gauges (VWSG), the majority of the false alerts are caused by Electro-Magnetic Interference (EMI) which is generated by electrical power equipments such as welding machines, power generators and pumps. Typical VWSG data logger uses the pulse counting method to measure the VWSG frequency in the Time Domain and this method is sensitive to EMI data corruption. The same VWSG frequency can be measured in the Frequency Domain by transforming the same signal from Time to Frequency Domain using the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). Field tests were carried out to verify that the VWSG FFT Measurement can overcome EMI data corruption. This innovative technique improves the VWSG data quality and reduces false alerts. It helps the instrumentation site planning by giving the site engineers more flexibility to organize instrumentation layout and cabling with lesser constraints.

1 INTRODUCTION As urban cities expand, new higher buildings, additional roads, expanded highway bridges and underground structures will be built to increase the land utilization and transportation capacities. These trends increase the demand for the Real Time Monitoring and Alert Systems (RTMAS) of adjacent buildings and infrastructures to minimize the construction risks and insurance costs. With rising land prices, construction schedules will be shortened and the work has to progress continuously for 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Hence the monitoring of sensors and analysis of data into useful information has to also follow in tandem. When the sensor readings exceed their trigger levels, alert messages are sent automatically via Mobile Phones Short Message Service (SMS) and emails to right person for any remedial actions to be taken. The RTMAS measures a large amount of sensor readings per day. This in turn demands a higher data quality to prevent false alerts. Even with high order of data filtering and smarter software algorithms, the causes of low data quality have to be stopped at the source rather than use data alteration methods to eliminate false alerts. This data alteration procedure carries a risk that it also removes sensor data movements which are real but un-expected. The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) Technique, which is based upon Cooley and Tukey (1965), is an established Digital Signal Processing Technique to transform the Signal from Time Domain to Frequency Domain. Using this technique, the results showed that the VWSG readings are immune to Electro-Magnetic Interference (EMI). 2 REAL TIME MONITORING AND ALERT SYSTEM A RTMAS developed by Tan et al (August 2004) is shown in Figure 1. The VWSG are measured every 10 minutes and the measured results are then transmitted via wire-less GPRS to a central server. When the VWSG readings exceed their limits, SMS alerts are sent out within 10 minutes to the stalk holders. This system provides Real Time Sensor Information at a very high data rate. Hence data quality is very important to minimize false alerts. It is already known that the deployment of RTMAS will lead to the demand for better data quality from the monitoring service provider. Thus EMI effect is one key parameter to minimize for stalk holder to trust the alert readings.

Figure 1. Real Time Monitoring and Alert System from site VWSG sensor to user within 10 minutes

3 IMPACT OF ELECTROMAGNETIC INTERFERENCE As vibrating wire strain gauges operate at a frequency between 600 to 1500 Hz, they are subjected to Electro-Magnetic Interference (EMI). This compromises the accuracy of the sensor readings by introducing noise into the raw measurements, which can be very difficult to separate from genuine data, and therefore can be processed and calculated as load. There are numerous potential sources of EMI noise on construction sites including: arc welding, machinery ignition, power generators and power cables on the site. The noise takes one of two forms, either as a general underlying trend impacting the overall accuracy of data by increasing its spread. Or as a high voltage surge, causing a spike in the load readings when, for example, a machine ignition is started, electronic noise tends to lower readings, whereas magnetic noise increases them. With the advent of RTMAS and data processing at 10 minute intervals, the impact of this interference becomes more significant. The first case leads to a general questioning of the accuracy of the strain gauge readings as the uncertainty range now appears wider. The data spikes can result in a trigger alarm being breached, with the potential for work to stop unnecessarily and causing site safety confusion.

Figure 2. Impact of EMI noise on Strain Gauge readings

International Conference on Deep Excavations (ICDE) 2008

3.1 EMI caused by A.C. Generator and Power Cables The impact of EMI due to A.C. generator and power cables can be clearly seen in Figure 2. During the working day on 9th & 10th September, electronic EMI noise interference from a generator and power cable caused a 200kN fluctuating reduction in load. The lunch hour can also be clearly seen when the generator was turned off. By the 11th September the noise had been identified and the generator removed, hence more stable readings. 3.2 EMI caused by Welding Works One of the construction effects resulting in erratic and significantly high loads registered by the strain gauge is welding. High heat generated from the welding of horizontal ties or lacings to the main strut member can result in a high and sudden increase in the strut loads. As in Figure 3, one of a pair of strain gauges is located close to the lacing, and the welding of this element has caused the strut load to rise. Welding of lacing usually commences after the struts are preloaded. The impact of this welding on the strut load is clearly evident from Figure 3, an example from a strut located at the 2nd level of an excavation, with welding only occurring on one side of the strut and impacting on that strain gauge.
2500

Welding
2000

SG on the side of welding of strut

Load increase (600kN) due to welding

Load (kN)

1500

SG on the non welding side of strut

1000

Sudden decrease in load (400kN) due to EMI effect of welding

500 SG Welding side SG Non Welding side 0

Welding side

00:00:00 12:00:00 00:00:00 12:00:00 00:00:00 12:00:00 00:00:00 12:00:00 00:00:00 12:00:00 00:00:00 12:00:00

Time
Figure 3. Impact of welding on adjacent strain gauges on the same strut

As shown in Figure 3, the readings on both sides of the strut web show a sudden large drip of 400 kN, probably associated with EMI noise, followed by a sharp increase of load on the welding side. An increase from 1300 kN to 1900 kN was recorded. On the non welding side a minimal rise in load was registered in the readings. On completion of welding the impacted gauge did not recover to its original load but remained at its elevated level, which is not representative of the overall load in the whole strut. This concept of residual stress, recognized since 1964, is not representative of the complete load of the strut, and if clearly identified from the readings and construction activity to be due to outside influence, the strain gauge can be adjusted to account for this effect. 3.3 EMI causing false alerts In this RTMAS, any type of EMI can cause false SMS alerts and hence unnecessary works stoppages. In a work site, the RTMAS monitors 92 VWSG and 4 Load Cells readings every 10 minutes. Two VWSGs monitor a strut with its individual temperature sensor and the Load Cell has 4 VWSG and 1 Temperature sensor. This is a total of 92 VWSG + 4 x 4 VWSG = 108 VWSG sensor readings per 10 minute measurement cycle. The data rate is 108 x 6 x 24 = 15,552 data points per day. A 5% EMI noise

occurrence, which corrupts the VWSG readings, can cause 777 false SMS alerts per day! Using a RTMAS will require a higher quality setup from Instrumentation System. To achieve this, the whole process of sensor installation, verification, cabling, site layout, signal grounding, system setup, commissioning and monitoring must have quality control to avoid unnecessary alert SMS alerts. 4 VIBRATING WIRE STRAIN GAUGE MEASUREMENT METHODS 4.1 The VWSG sensor functionality A wire is tensioned inside a VWSG . An electromagnetic coil is used to pluck the wire and then measure the frequency of the vibration. The natural frequency,f, of the vibration is
f = 1 2l T m

where l is its length, T is its tension and m is its mass per unit length. The most common circuit arrangement is to excite the wire with a single current pulse. After that, the frequency of the damped vibrations that follow is measured with the same coil. Based on this principle, when the wire is plucked, it vibrates at a frequency. The VWSG strain, which is proportional to the frequency squared, can be calculated by applying calibration factors to the frequency measurement. A VWSG sensor is made up of a vibrating wire under tension and a drive-measurement inductive pickup coil as shown in Figure 4. Figure 5 shows the VWSG pickup coil and the VWSG sensor wire, which is enclosed in the steel protective enclosure.

Figure 4. Vibrating Wire sensor components

Figure 5. Vibrating Wire Strain Gauge

When the VWSG coil is plucked, the wire resonates. The VWSG waveform picked up is a damped sine wave oscillation as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6. Time Domain waveform from the VWSG

The VWSG pickup coil, which acts as a magnetic pickup device, also picks up other unwanted EMI signals within the VWSG frequency range of 600 to 1500 Hz. In a large power sub-station, monitoring was required during the tunnel works. A EMI site survey was conducted to check for EMI as the VWSG monitoring locations given. Some locations proposed were unsuitable for Quality Data as these locations had large EMI which would affect the readings. Figure 7 shows the signal pickup from a VWSG coil when this coil is placed near a power transformer which emits magnetic flux and hence EMI fields. This means that the coil now acts as the VWSG measuring as well as EMI pickup coil. The transformer EMI is 50Hz and its harmonics as seen in the lower graph of Figure 7. These EMI frequencies will change according to the type of loads applied onto the transformer as the currents through the transformer coils will emit different EMI waveforms and frequencies.

International Conference on Deep Excavations (ICDE) 2008

The VWSG measuring circuit cannot differentiate between the unwanted and wanted signal if EMI frequencies happen to fall within the same frequency range as that of VWSG readings.

Figure 7. The top graph shows the VWSG pickup coil output signal in Time Domain while the bottom graph is the same VWSG signal in the Frequency Domain after processed using FFT.

4.2 Pulse counting technique Ever since VWSG was developed, the most commonly used method to measure the VWSG Frequency is the Frequency Counting Gating (FCG) Method. This method counts the number of pulses within the FCG to determine the frequency of the VWSG signal pickup, shown in Figure 8. This is a classical method using Digital Logic Gates in 1970s when digital integrated circuits were made available.

Figure 8. Frequency Measurement by Pulse counting in the Time Domain

4.3 Digital Signal Processing using Fast Fourier Transform The Digital Signal Processing (DSP) Method used is based upon the basic FFT Technique developed since 1965. With the increasing availability of low cost powerful computers, it has become more commonly used in many DSP techniques. The same VWSG signal, of Figure 8 in Time Domain, is now transformed into the Frequency Domain as seen in Figure 9. The Frequency, which the amplitude peaks in Figure 9, is the Resonant Frequency of the VWSG. This use of FFT technique to check for VWSG Signal to Noise Ratio of sensor readings was reported by Tan et al (November 2005).

Figure 9. Frequency Measurement by FFT in the Frequency Domain

5 TEST RESULTS 5.1 Measurement setup For measurement setup, a VWSG data logger, the Campbell Scientific CR10X was used to measure the VWSG frequency readings using the measurement software PC208W. This is the most widely used data logger configuration in the industry. For the DSP Method, an Embedded Real Time Digital Signal Processing Device (DSPD) was used to perform the FFT computation. Figure 10 shows the setup used for comparison between the Time Domain and Frequency Domain Measurement approach.

Figure 10. Measurement setup for Time and Frequency Domain Measurement comparion

The VWSG is excited with CR10X. Both CR10X and DSPD simultaneously measure the VWSG frequency. The Notebook then displays the DSPD waveform from Time and Frequency Domain. The typical waveform of the measured VWSG is shown in Figure 6 as a damped time waveform. 5.2 Test Results with Electric Charge The VWSG was subjected with an Electric Charge using a Static Gun in Figure 11. The waveform interference is shown in Figure 12 and the spike at 0.024 Time is caused by this EMI.

Figure 11. A high frequency EMI source using an anti-static gun

International Conference on Deep Excavations (ICDE) 2008

Figure 12. VWSG Waveform distortion due to EMI from Electric Charge

The test results showed that the Frequency readings from CR10X in Figure 13 are affected by this EMI whereas the FFT method is immune to EMI in Figure 14.

Figure 13. VWSG readings from CR10X

Figure 14. VWSG readings from FFT

5.3 Test Results with Magnetic Field

Figure 15. An EMI source using a Degaussing Tool

Figure 16. VWSG waveform distortion due to EMI from Magnetic Field

The VWSG was subjected to EMI Magnetic Field using a Degaussing tool in Figure 15. The waveform showing EMI spike effects is shown in Figure 16. The test results showed that the Frequency readings

from CR10X were affected by this EMI in Figure 17, while the FFT method was immune to EMI shown in Figure 18.

Figure 17. VWSG readings from CR10X

Figure 18. VWSG readings from FFT

5.4 Test Results on site near Welding Equipment With the measurement setup of CR10X and DSPD, the VWSG EMI tests were repeated on actual welding operation site. The VWSG sensor was tested under different tensile and compression mode to simulate actual load conditions and checked that the VWSG sensor was functioning as expected. The welding current was measured as 60Amps and for stable power supply; the welding equipment was powered directly from mains. Figure 19 shows the VWSG waveform and with a large amount of EMI pick up also. To examine the actual, the waveform is now expanded in time scale in Figure 20.

Figure 19. VWSG waveform with EMI on field test

Figure 20. Expanded time chart with Zooming into the VWSG Waveform with EMI data corruption

The FFT measured the Peak Amplitude of the VWSG in Frequency domain and showed the EMI noise frequency spectrum above 1700Hz in Figure 21.

International Conference on Deep Excavations (ICDE) 2008

Figure 21. VWSG FFT plot showing the EMI signals at 1700Hz and above

On actual site test, the frequency readings from the CR10X are plotted in time in Figure 22. The results showed that the Maximum Frequency is 1951.6 Hz, the Minimum Frequency is 911.8 Hz and the difference between them is 1039.7 Hz. This data corruption is more than 100%. It also shows that in welding sites, false SMS alerts are possible.

Figure 22. VWSG readings from CR10X

Figure 23. VWSG readings from FFT

In the test, the frequency readings from the FFT are plotted in time in Figure 23. The results showed that the Maximum Frequency is 912.4 Hz, the Minimum Frequency is 910.8 Hz and the difference between them is only 1.6 Hz. This is a low 0.17 % error. The effect of EMI influencing VWSG data quality had been reported by Osborne et al. (September 2007). During the same test, the VWSG readings from the FFT technique was measured and plotted. The result in Figure 23 shows that this method was unaffected by EMI. 6 CONCLUSION In the Time Domain VWSG Frequency measurements, EMI corrupts the VWSG readings via three possible components in the measurement chain. Many VW sensor manufacturers have published in their websites and brochures claiming that their sensors are immune to EMI. This in turn has led many end users to be confused about erratic readings as the data reading corruption becomes a no-ownership area as there was no systematic site investigation to resolved such data quality issues. The data quality depends on the entire data flow chain of the VWSG gauge, Sensor cable and the Frequency Measurement Module and Data logger. Once the sensor readings are converted digital format, it is completely immune to data corruption from EMI. These parameters are discussed by Tan et al (November 2007). With the availability of DSP computing technologies, it is now cost effective to deploy these measurement technologies in the Real Time Monitoring and Alert Systems with high quality VWSG readings which are free of false alerts due to EMI. This is achieved by measuring VWSG readings in the Frequency Do-

main rather than in the Time Domain. Such Data Quality Improvements will reduce uncertainties and confusion in the call for work suspension when the sensor trigger levels are exceeded. This gives the engineers a higher confidence to make a judgment call for work stoppages as now false alerts are eliminated. By using a proven FFT technique, which was developed in 1965, all the stake holders responsible for instrumentation and monitoring construction works can now benefit and depend on these WVSG to provide accurate and reliable information on site 24x7. 7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We like to thank the Tunnel & Shaft for providing the test sites and Chen Yii Wei for his contribution. REFERENCES
J.W.Cooley and J.W.Tukey, 1965, "An algorithm for the machine calculation of complex Fourier series," Math. Comput. 19: 297301 N.H.Osborne, D.C.Chen, C.C.Ng , J.Rudi, K.M.Latt and G.H.Tan, September 2007, Factors influencing the performance of Strain gauges: A Singapore Perspective, 7th International Symposium on Field Measurements in GeoMechanics, Boston, USA G.H.Tan, T.G.Ng and J. Brownjohn, August 2004, Real Time Monitoring and Alert Systems for Civil Engineering applications using Machine-to-Machine Technologies, International Conference on Structural and Foundation Failures, Singapore G.H.Tan, X.Wang,Y.K.Poh, M.Stringer and J. Brownjohn, November 2005, Real Time Monitoring and Alert in Excavation Works using Machine to Machine (M2M) Technologies, 2nd International Conference on Structural Health Monitoring of Intelligent Infrastructure, Shenzhen, China G.H.Tan and T.H.Tan, November 2007, Causes of False Alerts in Real Time Monitoring & Alert Monitoring Systems in Deep Excavation Sites, Underground Singapore 2007