Friday, January 29, 2010
IFOS announces award of Phase I SBIR contract for Advanced Modular, Multi-Channel, High Speed Fiber-Optic Sensing Systems for Acoustic Emissions Monitoring

In Phase I, IFOS proposes to prove the feasibility of innovations based on ultra-light-weight, ultra-high-speed, multi-channel, optical fiber sensor system for acoustics emissions (AE) monitoring for detection of impact damage and cracks in structural components in aerospace structures. The project goals include development of signal processing algorithms to identify and measure AE signals in the presence of a quasi-static background strain field. All aviation companies and other entities within this market benefit from in-flight health monitoring of their aircraft structures. An AE monitoring system attached to the aircraft structure, in the areas susceptible to fatigue and impact damage provides the data that can be used reliably to determine the health status of the aircraft structure in real time. Commercial aviation will benefit significantly from this technology. For example, wide spread area fatigue damage has been determined to be a major source of problem for commercial aviation. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Regulations require that aircraft structures critical to their safe operation must not fail during flight due to damage caused by the repeated (cyclic) loads typical to its operations. This requirement generates the need for evaluating the fatigue life of critical aircraft structures. IFOS’s proposed approach addresses such needs of FAA. In addition to aviation other commercial application areas of the proposed methodology include automotive, wind and gas turbines, the oil industry and land and marine vehicles qualification.

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