A Single Point Micromachined Multiparameter Fiber Optic Sensor

The materials and technology now exist to construct a miniaturized, single-point, fiber optic-based, micromachined sensor for the simultaneous measurement of temperature, pressure, heat flux and skin friction for wind tunnel and in-flight instrumentation. This instrumentation is crucial to the development and operation of affordable, safe and efficient 21st century aircraft and other high-speed transportation systems. The accurate measurement of various wall properties in fluid dynamic devices is important for understanding the basic fluid physics involved and assessing the performance of the device, leading to improvements in the design and operation of future high-speed transportation systems. An excellent development team has been assembled including (1) Prof Schetz of Virginia Tech, a world leader in skin friction measurements and the innovator of a novel combination skin friction and heat flux sensor; (2) the University of Cincinnati, a team of researchers with expertise in integrated optics and micromachine design and fabrication; (3) TaiTech, experts in wind tunnel instrumentation, and (4) F&S, a leader in fiber optic sensor development and commercialization. The F&S team is both qualified and motivated to build upon their combined demonstrated capabilities to accomplish this development and commercialization project.