Autonomous near-field communication (NFC) sensors for long-term preventive care of fine art objects

摘要

We present the design and pilot trial of near-field communication (NFC) sensors for the long-term preventive care of fine art objects. This work was undertaken to address the unmet need for a permanent and unified object specific sensory and digital data labelling system for fine art objects that does not require large-scale wireless infrastructure. The sensor-tags are demonstrated in a six-month pilot study to evaluate the temperature and humidity buffering performance of a microclimate enclosure (MCE) constructed to protect a late C16th panel painting. The framed painting fitted with NFC sensor-tags was hung in a busy, and environmentally uncontrolled, Cambridge college dining hall to mimic a typically large, semipublic exhibition space. The resulting visibility of climatic conditions and the detailed analytics made possible from the data sets harvested from the NFC sensor-tags have provided invaluable information to the painting conservators. This study provides the first steps in understanding how object specific electronic sensor-tags will play a critical role in improving the display management, storage and long-term preventive care of fine art objects. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.