The Integrated Systems Health Monitoring Laboratory at the National Institute of Aerospace will be a state-of-the-science laboratory capable of providing students with the instruments necessary to lead dynamic research thrusts in smart materials, signal processing, structural prognosis, wireless sensing, and energy harvesting. Research will be conducted with the aim to advance Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) technologies, with a focus on employing SHM within aerospace applications.
Students who work in the laboratory will have the opportunity to lead investigations into the use of smart (capable of sense) materials, such as multifunctional carbon nanotube yarns (CNT Yarn); and sensing technologies, such as strain gradient sensing; or work with sensory allows and shape memory alloys. Work is already underway in which shape memory alloys (SMA) particles have been embedded into aluminum alloys, with the aim of enhancing detection sensitivity via acoustic emission (AE) techniques. Investigations are also underway into the ability of elastic metamaterials to manipulate mechanical waves, propagating waves, and evanescent waves.
ISHM will be the second laboratory at NIA to conduct research involving the advancement of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). At ISHM, research thrusts will be directed toward developing critical Sense –and-Avoid (SSA) systems. UAS outfitted with this system will be capable of sensing and detecting incoming impediments, and then successfully avoid obstacles before them. To achieve this, developments will be made in Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) and multi-sensor data fusion, amongst other technologies.
Energy is everywhere, from the powerful rays of the Sun, the raging tumult of waves, and even within the vibrations onboard an airplane. With that said, energy harvesting is a critical research imperative within all of the NIA laboratories, including IHSM. Students at IHSM will have the opportunity to explore technologies developed at North Carolina State University, including a magnetostrictive vibration energy harvester, miniature wind turbine, and maglev vibration energy harvester.
Research Areas:
- Materials
- Nano-Sensors (CNT Yarn)
- Strain Gradient Sensors
- Sensory Alloys
- Metamaterial-Based Sensors
- Signal Processing
- Impact Identification
- Damage Location and Sizing
- Migration
- Time-Reversal
- DORT
- DT
- Damage Imaging
- Prognosis (Structures and Systems)
- Bayesian Updating
- Remaining Useful Life (RUL)
- Systems Prognosis
- Wireless Sensor Node
- Accelerometer
- Strain Gage
- Piezo Sensors/Actuators
- Energy Harvesting
- Magnetostrictive Cantilever
- Miniature Wind Turbine
- Mag-Lev Based Harvester
- UAS
- Multi-Sensor Data Fusion