Wireless Leave-In-Place Aircraft Structural Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) Sensors

"Wireless NDE is a dream ready to become a reality. The increase in capability of commercial systems for communication and computation has opened the door for many novel new NDE applications. As with any breakthrough, the first runners set the tone foracceptance for those who follow. Nascent is committed to utilize this SBIR opportunity to develop a practical NDE system to monitor selected critical parameters that assess structural integrity of aircraft systems. Embedded, wireless, multi-modal sensormodules at global and critical local sites will be the heart of our concept. The system will monitor factors such as such as strain and ultrasonic propagation, linked to structural degradation at critical sites and maintain records of global phenomena,such as vibration and temperature for integrated assessments. The measurements will be processed in situ and will communicate with the outside world via wireless interrogation. The first stage of this project is agreement on critical aircraft sensors andNaval monitoring needs to insure that our focus is on priority targets. The success of this Phase I SBIR project will drive exciting new applications for both NDE and wireless systems. Nascent believes that the future of large-area and/or limited-accessNDE applications lies in cost-effective, wireless in-situ devices such as the ones proposed in this project. Success in this project will hasten the transition of advanced diagnostic measurem