The proposed sensor-tag interface devices will also find wide usage for distributed wireless monitoring of sensors in aerospace and other commercial applications. Monitoring of commercial airframes for aging and deterioration is a high priority for aerospace firms and for military and civilian aircraft operators. Civil infrastructure monitoring could enhance our understanding of the condition of bridges, tunnels, and pavements, with real-time detection of cracks, delamination, and other growing failure mechanisms in concrete, metal, composites, and other materials. This would provide actionable intelligence and allow effective prioritization of limited maintenance and repair resources. Other commercial applications will likely include inventorying and tracking high value industrial assets, and distributed sensing systems for environmental applications such as landfills.
Sets of the coded passive wireless sensor-tags proposed and appropriate wireless readers would enable remote monitoring of external sensors throughout NASA programs and facilities, reducing the wiring infrastructure for DFI and for vehicle/structure monitoring systems. While the proposed work will develop interface devices for use with strain gages and pressure sensors, prior work makes it clear that the results of the proposed work can be extended for use with other sensor types provided the sensor produces a change in impedance or a voltage in response to an external stimulus (or change in a measurand). Thus, sensor-tag interface devices could be used to provide wireless interfaces to numerous existing sensors. This would allow NASA to re-use existing flight qualified sensors in a wireless mode, by qualifying a wireless link device suitable for use with each class of sensors, avoiding the need to qualify new sensors for every application.
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