Senior Design Project, Spring 2001
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering The University of Texas at AustinProject Description
The goal of this project is to develop a radio frequency identification (RFID) system capable of non-invasively detecting the condition of welds in a building. Currently, the only way to inspect a structural component of construction such as a weld is to remove any obstruction that exists between the weld and the inspector (such as a wall), visually inspect the weld, then rebuild the wall. Such a solution is obviously not cost effective. Ideally, a person should be able to inspect the weld without first tearing out the wall. With RFID, an inspector will be able to walk into a room with a device that will tell him exactly which welds in the room are intact. The device will emit low-frequency radio waves that power an integrated circuit attached to a weld. The circuit can detect whether the weld is broken, and transmits that information back to the device in the hands of the inspector. The inspection then proceeds much more quickly at a greatly reduced cost.