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Proceedings Paper

Optical feather and foil for shape and dynamic load sensing of critical flight surfaces
Author(s): Richard J. Black; Joannes M. Costa; Fereydoun Faridian; Behzad Moslehi; Mehrdad Pakmehr; Jon Schlavin; Vahid Sotoudeh; Andrei Zagrai
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Paper Abstract

Future flight vehicles may comprise complex flight surfaces requiring coordinated in-situ sensing and actuation. Inspired by the complexity of the flight surfaces on the wings and tail of a bird, it is argued that increasing the number of interdependent flight surfaces from just a few, as is normal in an airplane, to many, as in the feathers of a bird, can significantly enlarge the flight envelope. To enable elements of an eco-inspired Dynamic Servo-Elastic (DSE) flight control system, IFOS is developing a multiple functionality-sensing element analogous to a feather, consisting of a very thin tube with optical fiber based strain sensors and algorithms for deducing the shape of the “feather” by measuring strain at multiple points. It is envisaged that the “feather” will act as a unit of sensing and/or actuation for establishing shape, position, static and dynamic loads on flight surfaces and in critical parts. Advanced sensing hardware and software control algorithms will enable the proposed DSE flight control concept. The hardware development involves an array of optical fiber based sensorized needle tubes for attachment to key parts for dynamic flight surface measurement. Once installed the optical fiber sensors, which can be interrogated over a wide frequency range, also allow damage detection and structural health monitoring.

Paper Details

Date Published: 29 April 2014
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 9064, Health Monitoring of Structural and Biological Systems 2014, 90642S (29 April 2014); doi: 10.1117/12.2063057
Show Author Affiliations
Richard J. Black, Intelligent Fiber Optic Systems Corp. (United States)
Joannes M. Costa, Intelligent Fiber Optic Systems Corp. (United States)
Fereydoun Faridian, Intelligent Fiber Optic Systems Corp. (United States)
Behzad Moslehi, Intelligent Fiber Optic Systems Corp. (United States)
Mehrdad Pakmehr, Intelligent Fiber Optic Systems Corp. (United States)
Jon Schlavin, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (United States)
Vahid Sotoudeh, Intelligent Fiber Optic Systems Corp. (United States)
Andrei Zagrai, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (United States)


Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9064:
Health Monitoring of Structural and Biological Systems 2014
Tribikram Kundu, Editor(s)

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