Shear Sensors for High Speed, High Temperature Flow Applications

This Phase-II STTR Proposal first summarizes Phase-I progress on the development of a microelectromechanical-system (MEMS) solid-state shear-stress sensor for high-speed, high-temperature flow applications.A working prototype has been completed and successfully tested in a heritage Mach-5 wind tunnel at The University of Texas at Austin.The fundamentally new device concept has been verified in Phase I, and has proven to meet critical specifications including broadband frequency response beyond 1 MHz, high-sensitivity, small sensor-head area, and versatile flush mounting capable of adapting to most any hypersonic vehicle of interest to the Air Force.A Phase-II effort will address high-temperature response up to 1,200 Kelvin, extremely small sensing element size down to 10-m pixels, and versatile packaging for insertion into a number of test subjects important to AFOSR.