Paper
19 June 1997 IDT, SAW, and MEMS sensors for measuring deflection, acceleration, and ice detection of aircraft
Author Affiliations +
Abstract
Smart MEMS (MicroElectroMechanical Systems) in the form of integrated sensors and actuators offer significant potential for many rotorcraft applications. Sensing of flex beam deflection and acceleration, ice formation and deicing are major candidate areas where smart conformal MEMS based sensors can be exploited by the rotorcraft community. The major technical barrier of the present day smart structures technology is the need for wired communication between sensors and actuators in the rotating system and controllers, data storage units,a nd cockpit avionics. Many proposed sensors and actuators are commonly distributed either along the blade length or, in the active flap devices, out near the 75% blade radial station. Also they are not conformed to the airfoil shape of the rotor blades. The communication between rotating and fixed systems is typically accomplished using complex slip ring assemblies transferring electronic information down through the rotor shaft. Although advances have been made in wired communication, these complex assemblies are essentially similar to test hardware and present numerous reliability and maintainability limitations when implemented on a production scale. Considering these limitations, development of a wireless means of communication through a new generation of conformal sensors with built-in antenna, akin to telemetry, could have a dramatic beneficial payoff for rotorcraft applications.
© (1997) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Vijay K. Varadan, Vasundara V. Varadan, and Xiao-Qi Bao "IDT, SAW, and MEMS sensors for measuring deflection, acceleration, and ice detection of aircraft", Proc. SPIE 3046, Smart Structures and Materials 1997: Smart Electronics and MEMS, (19 June 1997); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.276610
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Cited by 8 scholarly publications.
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KEYWORDS
Sensors

Microelectromechanical systems

Antennas

Reflectors

Semiconducting wafers

Actuators

Remote sensing

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