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Performance Evaluation of An Autonomous Time-synchronized Sensing System with A Camera Sensor

Authors:
Narito Kurata

Keywords: Time Synchronization; Chip Scale Atomic Clock; Earthquake Observation; Structural Health Monitoring; Micro Electro Mechanical Systems; Camera Sensor.

Abstract:
The maintenance of aging civil infrastructure, such as bridges, highways, and buildings, has become a critical social issue in Japan. Proper maintenance requires regular and highly accurate inspections; however, these inspections still rely heavily on human visual observation, which is costly. To improve efficiency, automated sensing systems are increasingly needed. Moreover, following large-scale disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis, rapid evacuation and rescue operations must be carried out. For this purpose, it is essential to quickly and accurately evaluate structural integrity and damage using sensing systems. To address these challenges, research and development have been conducted on an autonomous time-synchronized sensing system that assigns highly precise time information to measurement data, enabling synchronized acquisition and analysis across multiple sensors. As an initial step, a sensor device was developed that realizes autonomous time-synchronized sensing using a high-precision digital accelerometer. Subsequently, a heterogeneous digital sensing platform was prototyped, allowing simultaneous connection of both a digital accelerometer and a camera sensor. In this system, accelerometer data and camera images are assigned unified timestamps synchronized with absolute time at the instant of acquisition. This enables synchronized measurement of vibration and imagery. The timestamping mechanism relies on the accuracy of a Chip-Scale Atomic Clock (CSAC) mounted on the device. Experimental evaluation confirmed that the prototype system achieves the desired performance. This paper describes the details of the time synchronization mechanism using a CSAC and presents detailed experimental results regarding its performance.

Pages: 19 to 25

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2025

Publication date: October 26, 2025

Published in: conference

ISSN: 2308-3514

ISBN: 978-1-68558-305-7

Location: Barcelona, Spain

Dates: from October 26, 2025 to October 30, 2025