FIBER OPTIC SENSOR TECHNOLOGY FOR HIGH ALTITUDE BALLOONS

LOW RELIABILITY OF HIGH ALTITUDE BALLOON ENVELOPES HAS BEEN A MAJOR IMPEDIMENT TO THE WIDE SPREAD ACCEPTANCE OF THESE AIR VEHICLES AS EQUIPMENT PLATFORMS. IMPROVEMENTS IN RELIABILITY WILL REQUIRE A MORE THOROUGH UNDERSTANDING OF THE FAILURE MECHANISMS OF BALLOON ENVELOPE STRUCTURES. IT IS PROPOSED THAT FIBER OPTIC STRAIN SENSORS INTEGRATED INTO THE ENVELOPE MATERIALS WILL PROVIDE A LIGHT WEIGHT COST EFFECTIVE DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM FOR MONITORING STRAINS WITHIN THE ENVELOPE STRUCTURE. EMBEDDED STRAIN SENSORS OFFER IMPROVED DATA ACCURACY OVER EXISTING ADHESIVELY BONDED SENSORS. THE SMALL PHYSICAL DIMENSIONS OF OPTICAL FIBERS MINIMIZES THEIR IMPACT ON THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES AND WEIGHT OF THE ENVELOPE. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH PROGRAM WILL DEVELOP FIBER OPTIC SENSORS FOR THE FLEXIBLE LAMINATED POLYMER FILMS AND METHODOLOGIES FOR THE APPLICATIONS OF THESE SENSORS TO HIGH ALTITUDE BALLOONS. EXISTING AND NOVELFIBER OPTIC SENSORS WILL BE LAMINATED INTO BALLOON MATERIALSAND TESTED. THE RESULTS OF THESE TESTS WILL THEN BE USED TODEVELOP STRATEGIES FOR INTEGRATING A DISTRIBUTED FIBER OPTICSENSOR NETWORK INTO AN ENVELOPE TO CREATE AN INTEGRITY MONITORING SYSTEM.