Conducting Stress-Strain Analysis by Remote Sensing

Cracks and loose fasteners are continuing problems on H-60 helicopters causing: unexpected downtime; reduced availability to warfighters; increased risk; high expenses; and time lost. The proposed embedded system would provide early detection and assessment of loose fasteners and strain allowing planned repairs and mitigating problems. TRI developed the LAHMP family of low power, lightweight, wireless, embedded and rugged sensor data collection, storage and transceiver systems. The LAHMP system is rugged, versatile, embeddable and monitors large areas with a few COTS sensors. This effort will expand on the Phase I battery powered, multichannel, wireless strain measuring LAHMP breadboard, specifically: expanding hardware capabilities; fully developing firmware & software; optimizing power usage/battery life; and long term testing on stress-strain tests of replicate and retired H-60 structures. Additional Phase II tasks include modeling stress-strain performance for relevant structures before conducting strain tests; developing an aircraft integration plan; and documenting a commercialization/business plan. Texas Research International will co-fund Phase III to perform MIL-STD qualification testing, aircraft ground and flight tests; and implement the business plan. Each LAHMP would be mounted on structures prone to damage and would collect data from several sensors allowing large area damage detection. Data will be available on demand via WiFi.