Photonic Sensing: Principles and Applications for Safety and Security Monitoring

Chapter 6

Miniaturized Fiber Bragg Grating Sensor Systems for Potential Air Vehicle Structural Health Monitoring Applications

Honglei Guo

University of Ottawa, Microwave Photonics Research Laboratory, Ottawa, ON, Canada

Gaozhi Xiao

Institute for Microstructural Sciences, National Research Council Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada

Nezih Mrad

Department of National Defense, National Defense Headquarters, Ottawa, ON, Canada

Jianping Yao

University of Ottawa, Microwave Photonics Research Laboratory, Ottawa, ON, Canada

6.1 Introduction

Aircraft operators are facing requirements of reducing the operating and maintenance cost, while at the same time improving the safety and reliability of air vehicles [1]. For military aircrafts, the need to serve beyond their designed life cycle poses further pressure on the already heavy maintenance and inspection burdens [2, 3]. Although conventional periodic on-ground inspection has successfully ensured the safety and reliability of air vehicles so far, it introduces high expenses [4]. In addition, the conventional methods might require disassembling and reassembling components, which could possibly introduce unexpected damage and degradation to structures and auxiliary systems [5]. The concept of structural health monitoring (SHM) is proposed and developed to reduce the complexity and the costs associated with these conventional methods by the implementation of on-board and real-time monitoring sensors [1]. Air vehicle SHM consists of two critical aspects, ...