Patent 7908928 was granted and assigned to Caterpillar Inc. on March, 2011 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A monitoring system is provided, which may include a structural component configured to undergo mechanical loading and a wireless node attached to the structural component. The node may include a strain sensing device configured to measure strain experienced by the structural component at the location of the node. The node may also include a processor configured to predict, based on the strain measurements, fatigue life of the structural component.