Geographic mapping model for underground structural deformation monitoring.

Underground structural deformation occurs because of the complex effects of the internal and external environments and it needs to undergo regional coverage deformation monitoring to realize the early warning of natural hazards. This issue remains a challenge for current deformation monitoring techniques. We present a geographic mapping model based on an ultrasonic omnidirectional array for deformation monitoring. First, an ultrasonic spherical array is established to achieve all-around monitoring for underground structural deformation. Second, an earth longitude–latitude mapping method is adopted to visually manage the spatial monitoring information. Third, the initial working time for the sensor node is allocated by considering a variety of environmental factors and using an intelligent clustering algorithm. The proposed method automatically detects, localizes, and tracks deformations by analysing the monitoring information, which is displayed on the earth longitude–latitude map. Lastly, experimental data are used to illustrate the application techniques as well as demonstrate the validity of the approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]