Single-Sensor Vibration Sensing in Anisotropic Composites Enabled by Disordered Metasurfaces

Efficient vibration sensing in composite structures is often hindered by the anisotropic nature of wave propagation, which traditionally necessitates dense sensors and complex acquisition hardware. Compressed sensing, which relies on a predefined dictionary for sparse signal reconstruction, has emerged as a powerful tool to minimize sensor requirements; however, its integration into anisotropic media remains underdeveloped. Here we introduce a compact, single-sensor vibration sensing (SSVS) system enabled by a disordered elastic metasurface that achieves high-fidelity localization and identification of multi-source vibrations in anisotropic composites. We show that the designed coupling between the disordered metasurface and anisotropic guided waves facilitates random phase modulation, which significantly reduces the coherence of the sensing matrix and overcomes the limitations of directional wave propagation in composites. Comprehensive numerical and experimental results verify that the proposed SSVS framework achieves high spatial resolution and robust performance regardless of diverse anisotropic lay-ups, complex vibration conditions, or large curvature. Given its ease of fabrication and potential of embodied intelligence, this approach offers a new avenue for intelligent sensing in anisotropic mediums, offering broad potential for non-destructive testing and structural health monitoring in advanced material systems.