Improvement of the accuracy of the aircraft center of gravity by employing optical fiber Bragg grating technology

Hongtao Zhang; Pengfei Wang; LingLing Fan; Liang Guan; Qiming Zhao; Hong-Liang Cui

doi:10.1117/12.851826

20 April 2010 Improvement of the accuracy of the aircraft center of gravity by employing optical fiber Bragg grating technology

Hongtao Zhang, Pengfei Wang, LingLing Fan, Liang Guan, Qiming Zhao, Hong-Liang Cui

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 7677, Fiber Optic Sensors and Applications VII; 767715 (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.851826
Event: SPIE Defense, Security, and Sensing, 2010, Orlando, Florida, United States

Abstract

Safety flight of aircrafts requires that the aircraft center of gravity (CG) must fall within specified limits established by the manufacturer. However, the aircraft CG depends not only on the structure of planes, but also on the passengers and their luggage. The current method of estimating the weight of passengers and luggage by the average weight may result in a violation of this requirement. To reduce the discrepancy between the actual weight and estimated weight, we propose a method of improving the accuracy of calculating the CG of the plane by weighing the passengers and their personal luggage. This method is realized by a Weigh-In-Motion (WIM) system installed at boarding gates based on optical fiber Bragg grating (FBG) technology. One prototype of WIM is fabricated and tested at lab. The resolution of this system is 2 kg and can be further improved by advanced manufacture technology. With the accurate weight of passengers and luggage coming from the WIM system and the locations of passengers and luggage obtained from boarding cards, the aircraft CG can be calculated correctly. This method can be applied into other fields, such as escalators, boarding gates for ferries.

Citation Download Citation

Hongtao Zhang, Pengfei Wang, LingLing Fan, Liang Guan, Qiming Zhao, and Hong-Liang Cui "Improvement of the accuracy of the aircraft center of gravity by employing optical fiber Bragg grating technology", Proc. SPIE 7677, Fiber Optic Sensors and Applications VII, 767715 (20 April 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.851826

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available