Location

Howard Johnson Plaza-Hotel, Atlantis/ Discovery Rooms

Start Date

24-4-1990 2:00 PM

End Date

24-4-1990 5:00 PM

Description

Future United States Air Force (USAF) and National Air and Space Administration (NASA) space systems such as Space Based Radar (SBR) , Space Based Laser (SBL) , and Space Station will incorporate smart structures/skins as part of their active vibration control system to sense, evaluate, and damp out any natural and spurious vibrations and health monitoring system to sense any degradation to the structure. The concept called smart structures/skins, is identified as one of the Project Forecast II technology areas. A smart structure/skin is defined as the embedment of sensors, actuators, and microprocessors in the material which forms the structure. One particular sensor that is being studied in depth is fiber optic. Fiber optics are lightweight, immune to electromagnetic interference, and are easily embeddable into composite material.

The Astronautics Laboratory (AL) is committed to develop and incorporate this technology into future space systems. This paper describes the current and future activities, both in-house and contractual at AL, in the area of smart structures/skins with emphasis placed on the role of fiber optics. Items to be discussed include, types of sensor and actuator systems, areas that future research and development need to address, and plans to incorporate smart structures/skins into future space systems.

Comments

DOD Research and Development

Session Chairman: M. T. Runkle, USAF, GPS Program

Session Organizer: Gary Spirnak, USAF, 6555th Aerospace Test Group, CCAFS, FL

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Apr 24th, 2:00 PM Apr 24th, 5:00 PM

Paper Session I-A - Smart Structures/ Skins Program Overview

Howard Johnson Plaza-Hotel, Atlantis/ Discovery Rooms

Future United States Air Force (USAF) and National Air and Space Administration (NASA) space systems such as Space Based Radar (SBR) , Space Based Laser (SBL) , and Space Station will incorporate smart structures/skins as part of their active vibration control system to sense, evaluate, and damp out any natural and spurious vibrations and health monitoring system to sense any degradation to the structure. The concept called smart structures/skins, is identified as one of the Project Forecast II technology areas. A smart structure/skin is defined as the embedment of sensors, actuators, and microprocessors in the material which forms the structure. One particular sensor that is being studied in depth is fiber optic. Fiber optics are lightweight, immune to electromagnetic interference, and are easily embeddable into composite material.

The Astronautics Laboratory (AL) is committed to develop and incorporate this technology into future space systems. This paper describes the current and future activities, both in-house and contractual at AL, in the area of smart structures/skins with emphasis placed on the role of fiber optics. Items to be discussed include, types of sensor and actuator systems, areas that future research and development need to address, and plans to incorporate smart structures/skins into future space systems.

 

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