SENSORS FOR FLIGHT RESEARCH

POLYMERIC PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD TECHNOLOGY HAS PROGRESSED TO A STAGE WHERE RESISTORS, CAPACITORS, INDUCTORS, AND EVEN DIODES CAN BE FORMED AS MICRO-SCALE COMPONENTS WHILE INTERCONNECTING IC'S. THIS TECHNOLOGY HAS BEEN ADVANCED BY USING COMPUTER CONTROLLED CAM, POLYMER ADDITIVE AND SUBTRACTIVE METHODS OF MULTI-LAYER CHIP INTERCONNECT. BY USING THIS METHOD, EVEN MICRO-SCALE DEVICES CAN BE FABRICATED, SUCH AS, ACCELEROMETERS, SENSORS, AND MOTORS. THIS PROPOSAL DESCRIBES THE DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT, AND BATCH MANUFACTURING OF A VARIETY OF ACTIVE AND PASSIVE DEVICES WHICH CAN BE USED AS SENSORS, ACTUATORS, AND TRANSDUCERS FORFLIGHT RESEARCH. BY USING POLYMER MATERIALS AND INTEGRATED CIRCUIT TECHNIQUES AT THE BOARD LEVEL, UNDER COMPUTER CONTROL, A NEARLY FINISHED INTEGRATED BOARD SYSTEM RESULTS. A COMBINATION OF METHODS CAN BE USED TO PRODUCE CUSTOM SENSORS ON DEMAND FOR PROTOTYPE, AS WELL AS PRODUCTION PARTSAVAILABLE AS NEEDED. THE PROCESS IS EXTREMELY REPEATABLE AND WILL PRODUCE A WIDE VARIETY OF LIGHTWEIGHT ELECTRO-MECHANICAL SENSORS AND TRANSDUCERS WITH INTEGRATED ELECTRONICS AND PHOTO-OPTICAL LINKS.