Extreme Environment Sensors and Associated Electronics

Conventional instruments suffer from an inability to survive extreme environments and do not provide reliable, distributed data such as pressure, temperature, heat flux, shear, displacement, flow velocity, Mach, equivalence ratio, core flow properties, etc. Proper instrument types that are robust, reliable, have a low packing factor, and are easy to replace are vital and needed to enabling next-generation air platforms and high-speed weapons. We propose to address the above challenges through the design and construction of innovative distributed instrumentation applicable to high-speed testing and harsh and extreme environment operations. This effort will culminate in a robust instrumentation system to advance testing capabilities and provide more effective decision-making data for both test and/or operational hypersonic vehicles. The validation data that could be gathered by an instrumentation system resulting from this work would assist in effective operation of next-generation hypersonic vehicles. It is also expected that the instrumentation system developed by this effort will help to improve data gathering in any propulsion system experiencing high thermoacoustic loads, engines in subsonic and supersonic platforms and extreme environment operation. We will research and develop and design an extreme environment distributed sensor system including the extreme environment sensors, the extreme environment electrics, circuits and distribution.