Fiber Optic Sensors for Structure Health Monitoring of Satellites

ABSTRACT: The Air Force actively supports satellites throughout their life cycles, from pre-launch inspections, to launch monitoring, to final orbit transfer commands. It is necessary to monitor the structural health of the satellites throughout their life cycles, and it is critical that the monitoring system be robust to the hazards of space deployment. These hazards include extreme temperature, radiation, and charging. Fiber optic sensing (FOS) technology provides flexible, high-resolution measurements of temperature and strain for structural health monitoring of many structures, including aircraft and satellites.; BENEFIT: The unique attributes of fiber optical sensing technology make its applications numerous and relevant to a broad spectrum of industries and government entities.Vehicles, structures, and medical devices are constantly being engineered smarter, smaller, lighter, safer, and more reliable, thus opening the door for high-speed distributed optical sensing to make a significant impact in how these products are designed, tested, and operated.