No-Power MEMS Trigger Sensors for Missile Health Monitoring

To reduce total life cycle costs of Army munitions, state-of-the-art health monitoring technologies are being applied in the diagnosis and prognosis of missile system health. Due to size and cost, MEMS technology has the potential to enable advanced healthmonitoring systems. However, energy storage is at a premium, and even though MEMS devices consume extremely small amounts of power, the power budget is still too tight to easily meet system requirements. Therefore, the use of no power sensors and limitdetectors is potentially invaluable in the development of low-maintenance health monitoring. This proposed Phase I effort will determine the feasibility of a particular no-power transduction mechanism that can be applied to inertial, chemical, temperature,and humidity sensors. The approach can result in advanced functionality including device arrays, programmable limits, and settable latching modes. This first phase will develop simulations and perform proof-of-principle experiments to verify the approach.In addition, designs and process flows will be developed in anticipation of a Phase II award. Phase II will then prototype, package, and integrate a sensor array into a health monitoring system. The MEMS devices proposed in this effort have a number ofmilitary and commercial applications. As individual devices, they would find application as trigger sensors for packages in transport, food, and health monitoring systems for missiles, rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft, automobiles, and other high-valueassets. When implemented as arrays, the devices could function as triggerable electronic noses and wide dynamic range discrete-value environmental sensors.