Self-powered Autonomous Device for WIreless struCtural Health monitoring (SANDWICH)

This project will develop new and optimise existing power harvester technologies and integrate them through efficient power management to achieve sufficient levels of energy to power a lightweight autonomous health monitoring system for aircraft structures. Using energy scavenged from the environment to power a network of sensors which can communicate wirelessly, the system will detect damage and determine the structural integrity of aircraft components. Safety and reliability are critical to the aerospace industry. This project will make a major leap forward in these areas, by facilit-ating continuous inspection coverage for aircraft both on the ground and in flight. Existing inspection techniques, rely on taking an aircraft out of service. This downtime is costly and periodic. Continuous coverage offered by a SHM system will be able to identify failures at an early stage in realtime, reducing the length of downtime, and facilitating safer and more effective maintenance schedules.