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This viewgraph presentation provides information on hardware and software configurations for a network architecture for sensors. The hardware configuration uses a central station and remote stations. The software configuration uses the 'lost station' software algorithm. The presentation profiles a couple current examples of this network architecture in use.
This slide presentation reviews the uses of wires in the Aerospace industry. The vision is to minimize cables and connectors and increase functionality across the aerospace industry by providing reliable lower cost modular and higher performance alternatives to wired data connectivity to benefit the entire vehicle and program
Sensor nodes composed of three basic components... radio module: COTS radio module implementing standardized WSN protocol; treated as WSN modem by main board main board: contains application processor (TI MSP430 microcontroller), memory, power supply; responsible for sensor data acquisition, pre-processing, and task scheduling; re-used in every application with growing library of embedded C code sensor card: contains application-specific sensors, data conditioning hardware, and any advanced hardware not built into main board (DSPs, faster A/D, etc.); requires (re-) development for each application.
Oscillators that operate at 720 and 940 MHz and characterized over a temperature range of 25 C to 200 C and 250 C, respectively, are presented. The oscillators are designed on alumina substrates with typical integrated circuit fabrication techniques. Cree SiC MESFETs, thin film metal-insulator-metal capacitors and spiral inductors, and Johanson miniature chip antennas make-up the circuits. The output power and phase noise are presented as a function of temperature and frequency. Index Terms MESFETS, chip antennas, oscillators SiC alumina.
Helicopters present many advantages over fixed-wing aircraft: they can take off from and land in tight spots, they can move in any direction with relative ease, and they can hover in one area for extended periods of time. But that maneuverability comes with costs. For example, one persistent issue in helicopter maintenance and operation is that their components are subject to high amounts of wear compared to fixed-wing aircraft. In particular, the rotor drive system that makes flight possible undergoes heavy vibration during routine performance, slowly degrading components in a way that can cause failures if left unmonitored. The level of attention required to ensure flight safety makes helicopters very expensive to maintain. As a part of NASA s Fundamental Aeronautics Program, the Subsonic Rotary Wing Project seeks to advance knowledge about and improve prediction capabilities for rotorcraft, with the aim of developing technology that will meet future civilian requirements like higher efficiency and lower noise flights. One of the program s goals is to improve technology to detect and assess the health of critical components in rotorcraft drive systems.
A method, apparatus, system, and computer program products provides personal alert and tracking capabilities using one or more nodes. Each node includes radio transceiver chips operating at different frequency ranges, a power amplifier, sensors, a display, and embedded software. The chips enable the node to operate as either a mobile sensor node or a relay base station node while providing a long distance relay link between nodes. The power amplifier enables a line-of-sight communication between the one or more nodes. The sensors provide a GPS signal, temperature, and accelerometer information (used to trigger an alert condition). The embedded software captures and processes the sensor information, provides a multi-hop packet routing protocol to relay the sensor information to and receive alert information from a command center, and to display the alert information on the display.
Aircraft engines have evolved into a highly complex system to meet ever-increasing demands. The evolution of engine technologies has primarily been driven by fuel efficiency, reliability, as well as engine noise concerns. One of the sources of engine noise is pressure fluctuations that are induced on the stator vanes. These local pressure fluctuations, once produced, propagate and coalesce with the pressure waves originating elsewhere on the stator to form a spinning pressure pattern. Depending on the duct geometry, air flow, and frequency of fluctuations, these spinning pressure patterns are self-sustaining and result in noise which eventually radiate to the far-field from engine. To investigate the nature of vane pressure fluctuations and the resulting engine noise, unsteady pressure signatures from an array of embedded acoustic sensors are recorded as a part of vane noise source diagnostics. Output time signatures from these sensors are routed to a control and data processing station adding complexity to the system and cable loss to the measured signal. "Smart" wireless sensors have data processing capability at the sensor locations which further increases the potential of wireless sensors. Smart sensors can process measured data locally and transmit only the important information through wireless communication. The aim of this wireless noise telemetry task was to demonstrate a single acoustic sensor wireless link for unsteady pressure measurement, and thus, establish the feasibility of distributed smart sensors scheme for aircraft engine vane surface unsteady pressure data transmission and characterization.
Space agency mission plans state the need to measure the seismic activity on Venus. Because of the high temperature on Venus (462? C average surface temperature) and the difficulty in placing and wiring multiple sensors using robots, a high temperature, wireless sensor using a wide bandgap semiconductor is an attractive option. This paper presents the description and proof of concept measurements of a high temperature, wireless seismometer sensor for Venus. A variation in inductance of a coil caused by the movement of an aluminum probe held in the coil and attached to a balanced leaf-spring seismometer causes a variation of 700 Hz in the transmitted signal from the oscillator/sensor system at 426? C. This result indicates that the concept may be used on Venus.
A wireless surface acoustic wave sensor includes a piezoelectric substrate, a surface acoustic wave device formed on the substrate, and an antenna formed on the substrate. In some embodiments, the antenna is formed on the surface of the substrate using one or more of photolithography, thin film processing, thick film processing, plating, and printing.