"SENSORS: Sensor nets bridge safety gap"

Engineers in laboratories nationwide are perfecting embedded sensor networks that could alert crews to defects in critical structures well before the problems cause catastrophic failures such as the recent collapse of Minneapolis' I-35W bridge. Structural health monitoring (SHM) is a sensor-based preemptive approach that could supplement the current system of visual inspections and follow-on tests of bridges, buildings, aircraft and other safety-critical structures. But SHM sensor systems have not been deployed in the United States, even though they theoretically would safeguard structures 24/7, wherever it is deployed.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201400224