Autonomous Nonbattery Wireless Strain Gage for Structural Health Testing and Monitoring in Extreme Environments

In Phase I we will demonstrate the feasibility of a wireless communication system that can remotely interrogate numerous passive SAW-based sensors at 2.4GHz, simultaneously extracting high bandwidth data from all of them. Our work will also address the feasibility of enhancements to the WSG sensors that improve the overall systems performance and ease of use. Earlier work has already demonstrated that SAW-based wireless strain gages are feasible and have significant promise for extreme environments. BENEFIT: The first application for this technology will be wireless strain sensors for turbine engine testing. The ability to collect strain readings from inside an operating engine will make these sensors especially attractive for engine development testing. However, strain sensors are used in hundreds of other specialized industrial applications. Wherever a wireless sensor can compete favorably with a wired sensor, this technology has an opportunity in the marketplace.)