The Associated Press' John Curran today looks at MicroStrain, Inc.'s efforts to use wireless sensor technology to monitor the strain being placed on bridges.

"The wireless, solar-powered sensor system can provide data on strain, seismic activity and vibrations on bridges, eliminating the need to manually replace batteries once the sensors are installed in hard-to-access places," Curran writes.

As MicroStrain president Steven Arms puts it, "What we're good at is combining processors with sensors, to give those sensors the ability to do things they otherwise wouldn't be able to do, like record data, use energy in an intelligent manner, change their operating modes as appropriate for the application - basically, to be programmable."

The system, which can cost as much as $30,000, has already been deployed on the Corinth Canal Bridge in Greece, and on the Goldstar Bridge in New London, Connecticut.

"It greatly expands what we can do with monitoring," says University of Connecticut professor John DeWolf, who's running a research project on the Goldstar Bridge deployment. "You can put sensors where you cannot get at them readily. You no longer have to run a wire to them, or change batteries. It's very exciting."

Photo above of MicroStrain's Steven Arms is from the Associated Press.