The paper presents a method of structural monitoring with the use of angular displacement measurements performed with inclinometer devices. Inclinometer method is a solution free from the basic disadvantages of optical methods used commonly in structural monitoring, such as sensitivity to any type of visibility restrictions, pollution or influence of weather conditions. At the same time, with appropriate sensor parameters, a much better measurement accuracy is obtained than for typical optical methods and very low energy demand and moderate costs are achieved. Taking into account the above-mentioned issues, in the first stage an appropriate MEMS-type inclinometer sensor was selected, its laboratory tests were carried out and a method of the offset temperature drift correction, individual for each sensor, was developed.

The paper presents a method of structural monitoring with the use of angular and linear displacement measurements performed using inclinometer and laser measuring devices. The focus is mainly on the inclinometer measurement method, which is a solution free from the basic disadvantages of optical methods, such as sensitivity to any type of visibility restrictions, pollution or influence of weather conditions. Testing of this method was carried out in practical application in an wireless monitoring system, installed in a large-area industrial building. The measurement results performed using the inclinometers were compared with simultaneous measurements of linear displacements performed with the use of proven methods based on laser rangefinders. The research and analysis show that the method of measuring angular displacements using the inclinometers with MEMS sensors of appropriate quality is a very good, better than typical optical methods, solution of structural monitoring systems that allows to obtain accurate and reliable results.