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.
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.
Comments
DOD Research and Development
Session Chairman: M. T. Runkle, USAF, GPS Program
Session Organizer: Gary Spirnak, USAF, 6555th Aerospace Test Group, CCAFS, FL