Distributed Pressure Sensing System for Hypersonic Environments using Optical Fiber Technology

Hypersonic vehicles will be flying in conditions that subject their structure and propulsion systems to harsh environments not previously seen by other aircraft. Conventional instruments cannot survive in these extreme environments and do not provide reliable data. optoXense proposes to design and develop a new pressure measurement system that will survive harsh (2000psi, 1800°C) hypersonic environments. To achieve this, optoXense will utilize high-temperature fiber optic sensing technology. Optical sensor data will be processed to measure pressure in a hypersonic environment (e.g., scramjet/ramjet engine). The proposed sensing system is fiber-Bragg-grating (FBG) based and nonintrusive to the hypersonic flow. In Phase-I, in addition to designing a new optical fiber measurement system and bench top test and verification, we will also develop a practical experimentation plan including procedures for test article instrumentation and hypersonic experiments. We will assess merits and deficiencies of the system with respect to expected performance, fabrication, and testing. We will identify a path for development and commercialization of the technology. In Phase-II, we will continue sensor and instrument package development and demonstrate the sensor ruggedness, precision, and accuracy in a representative hypersonic flow environment/engine platform at the University of Notre-Dame.