Enhanced Sensory Perception via Advanced Synthetic Skins

NanoSonic will work with researchers in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Penn State and with input from Northrop Grumman Undersea Systems to design, develop and demonstrate a four-way stretch sensor skin capable of measuring and mapping pressure and pressure direction over the skin surface. The skin will be based on the combination of technologies NanoSonic and Penn State have developed separately. NanoSonic has developed four-way stretch wet suit fabrics that minimally compress at 100’ dive depth, providing divers with extended thermal insulation.  The multilayer fabric skins contain spatial arrays of discrete high modulus pillars that resist compression. Here the pillar arrays will be used as the locations of small piezoresistive and textured piezoelectric ceramic pressure transducers developed by researchers at Penn State. The combination of gauge factors of these materials will provide a large range of surface force resolution. Interconnects from the pillar array elements to internal signal processing electronics will be made through vias of NanoSonic’s bioinspired Metal Rubber electrically conductive low modulus materials that are molecularly self-assembled. Northrop Grumman would provide oversight and design suggestions during Phase I and would potentially be involved in Phase II via a subcontract to experimentally evaluate sensor skin performance.