Aerospace System Applications Of Micromachine Technologies

Aerospace systems undergo environmental stressing which ultimately limit their useful life. Empirical rules and constant inspection are required for commercial and military aircraft because real-time data are not known for the high-cost systems. This effort proposes imbedded microelectronic and microelectromechanical devices to constantly monitor aerospace systems and a life-cycle analysis of the system's reliability and readiness. The imbedded devices will be located throughout the aerospace system at strategic locations to provide the analysis program with information not only on electrical systems but also provide information on vibration, acceleration, temperature, pressure, and stress. The Phase I effort will identify suitable candidate applications, provide a framework for the life-cycle analysis program, and construct one or more microelectomechanical sensors on chip suitable for aerospace systems applicatons. Other candidate microelectromechanical devices will be identified for use in a life-cycle predictive system/sensor network. The sensors will include on-chip electronics to reduce the central computer's computational burden. Phase II efforts will provide a suite of micro-sensors integrated into a life-cycle predictive system suitable for aerospace systems and for commercial applications. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS: The life-cycle predictive system with imbedded sensors for real-time analysis will enalbe military and commercial aircraft to anticipate future failure or imminent failure of structures/systems. This will in turn prevent certain classes of air-borne catastrophes and save lives. The technology may be applied to other high-cost structures that exist in stressed conditions.