Application of Smart Structures to Aircraft Health Monitoring

Abstract

Research efforts at Innovative Dynamics have produced sensors and signal processing software that can be integrated into an advanced Health Monitoring System (HMS) to increase the safety of aging aircraft. HMS is a unique distributed system based on "smart structures" technology. By monitoring the vibration signature of a structure, HMS determines structural abnormalities using a network of sensor arrays and distributed processors. Pattern recognition techniques are utilized to classify the sensor signals and determine the type of defect. The memory of the system is formed through a learning pro cess in which a systematic series of experiments is presented to the system.