Probability of Detection (PoD) Toolbox for Guided Wave based Structural Health Monitoring (SHM)

Metis Design Corporation (MDC) has leveraged several USAF, US Army and US Navy SBIR projects to develop the MD7-Pro Digital SHM System to detect degradation and damage on aircraft structure using an array of small, lightweight, networked sensors installed directly on the structure. The structural sonar sensors use PZT elements to transmit a guided Lamb wave that reflects from damage that may be present in the structure, and is received back at the sensors. The sensor system has undergone testing on several different structural configurations, but there is currently no way to predict the damage detection capability of the sensors on a new structure that has not been previously tested. Under the Phase I and original Phase II of this SBIR topic, MDC developed tools to help optimize sensor placement and visualize the resulting data, followed by validation tested on LCS-2. During this Phase II effort, MDC will continue building off these modeling tools to help determine the probably of detection (POD) using a Model Assisted (MAPOD) approach.