Direct potential NASA applications include close-proximity and contact sensing inspection of large structures used throughout NASA's operations and facilities. Another is the processing of sensor data into actionable information, a capability that cuts across most or all of NASA's R&D operations. Indirect applications include an unmanned aircraft's ability to gather data about its own state and that of the environment to recognize patterns and make decisions based on the data and patterns.
The technology proposed is directly applicable to inspection of power plants, tanks, towers, bridges, aircraft, ships, and any other large structure that requires periodic assessment and whose stoppage to enable human inspectors to do their work can cause significant loss of revenue or great inconvenience for users (as in the case of bridges).
More »