Measuring distance is essential for health monitoring and condition assessment of civil engineering structures. This paper reviews recent advances in remote sensing technologies for measuring distance based on electromagnetic waves. Specifically, four families of technologies are reviewed, which are the Global Navigation Satellite Systems, microwave radars, laser-based methods, and vision-based methods. The reviewed content covers the measurement principles, signal processing methods, state-of-the-art applications, and key performance metrics. The investigated performance includes the measurement accuracy, sampling frequency, operating distance, robustness to the environment, and compatibility with autonomous platforms. Existing inconsistent viewpoints concerning the performance are discussed. Based on the features of different technologies, a decision tree is presented to facilitate selection of appropriate methods for intended applications. This research is expected to promote development and applications of remote sensing technologies for facilitating condition assessment of engineering structures.

测量距离对于土木工程结构的健康监测和状况评估至关重要。本文回顾了基于电磁波测量距离的遥感技术的最新进展。具体来说，审查了四个技术系列，分别是全球导航卫星系统，微波雷达，基于激光的方法和基于视觉的方法。审查的内容涵盖了测量原理，信号处理方法，最新应用程序和关键性能指标。研究的性能包括测量精度，采样频率，工作距离，对环境的鲁棒性以及与自主平台的兼容性。讨论了有关性能的现有不一致观点。根据不同技术的特点，提供决策树，以帮助选择适合预期应用的适当方法。预期该研究将促进遥感技术的开发和应用，以促进工程结构的状态评估。