Patent ID: 7660690

Claim:
A method for installing and locating a plurality of sensors distributed on a structure as part of a structural health monitoring system comprising: verifying that each of the plurality of sensors are properly coupled to a sensor data collector; verifying that each of the plurality of sensors are installed in a proper location; retrieving a list of sensor pairs formed from the plurality of sensors, each sensor pair comprising a selected sensor and a neighbor sensor; for each sensor pair, sending a pulse from the selected sensor and detecting it at the neighbor sensor to determine a sensor time of flight between the selected sensor and the neighbor sensor; for each sensor pair, calculating a separation distance between the selected sensor and the neighbor sensor using the sensor time of flight; for each sensor pair, determining a difference between the calculated separation distance and an expected separation distance; confirming the installation is correct if the difference is within a predetermined threshold; and determining the location of the plurality of sensors.