Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100123583 | RFID-BASED CORROSION AND MOISTURE DETECTION - Structural health monitoring apparatuses and methods are disclosed. One or more structural health sensors may be used to disconnect and/or connect one or more RFID chips to an antenna such that wireless communication with the one or more RFID chips (or the absence of wireless communication) through the antenna indicates the structural health status. Example structural health sensors may be moisture detecting or fracture detecting. A remote reader may be used to establish the wireless communication with the one or more RFID chips to determine the structural health. The sensors and RFID chips may be passive and powered through the wireless communication from the remote reader. Such apparatuses and methods may be applied to any large structures requiring regular inspection, such as aircraft, ships, automobiles or buildings. | 05-20-2010 |
20100127802 | SANDWICH VEHICLE STRUCTURE HAVING INTEGRATED ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION PATHWAYS - A sandwich vehicle structure may allow for confined propagation of electromagnetic radiation within the sandwich vehicle structure. The sandwich vehicle structure may include at least one upper conducting plate, at least one lower conducting plate, and a core extending between the upper and lower conducting plates. The core may comprise a core medium, and a plurality of spaced apart core members embedded in the core medium and extending between the upper and lower conducting plates. The core medium and the core members may allow for the propagation of electromagnetic radiation within the core. | 05-27-2010 |
20100182023 | TRANSMISSION LINE MOISTURE SENSOR - A sensor device for monitoring and testing for potential corrosion of structural elements is disclosed comprising a soluble material disposed adjacent to at least one conductor in a transmission line that reacts to the presence of moisture causing a detectable change in an electrical property of the conductor. The conductor may comprise a conductive ink that is disrupted when the soluble material dissolves beneath it. Alternately, the nonconductive soluble membrane may separate two conductors and moisture causes a disruption in the soluble membrane allowing the two conductors to short. Detected changes in the electrical properties of the one or more conductors can be used to indicate potential corrosion or structural imparement in the structural element. Connection to the sensor device may be through a connector or using a wireless reader which remotely energizes the sensor device comprising one or more RFID chips. | 07-22-2010 |
20100318243 | Method and Apparatus for Wireless Aircraft Communications and Power System Using Fuselage Stringers - A method and apparatus for transmitting wireless signals. An apparatus comprises a stringer having a channel and a waveguide located within the channel. The waveguide is capable of carrying a number of wireless signals. | 12-16-2010 |
20110018686 | Method and Apparatus for Wireless Sensing with Power Harvesting of a Wireless Signal - A method and apparatus for operating a sensor system. A first wireless signal is transmitted from a base station to a sensor unit. At least a portion of the first wireless signal is changed into power for the sensor unit using a power harvesting unit in the sensor unit. Information is received from a number of sensors associated with the sensor unit. The information is transmitted to the base station using a second wireless signal. | 01-27-2011 |
20110291802 | STRUCTURAL HEALTH MANAGEMENT DEVICE AND ASSOCIATED SYSTEM AND METHOD - A structural health management device, system and method are provided for facilitating the inspection of a structure, such as in accordance with a condition-based maintenance strategy. A structural health management device may include a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag and at least one sense line communicably coupled to the RFID tag and configured to extend at least partially along a workpiece. The sense line may be formed of different materials depending upon the objective of the inspection. The RFID tag may include processing circuitry and an antenna configured to facilitate offboard communication. The processing circuitry may be configured to interrogate the at least one sense line to determine a change in continuity which is indicative of a change in the structural health of the workpiece. The structural health management device may therefore detect the onset of structural issues in a timely manner. | 12-01-2011 |
20120105086 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR AUTOMATED MEASUREMENT OF ELECTRICAL BONDS - A structure is described that includes a first faying surface, a second faying surface for creating an electrical bond with the first faying surface, and a sensor operatively placed proximate the first faying surface and the second faying surface. The sensor includes a current port for injecting a fixed current through the electrical bond, a voltage port for sensing a voltage across the electrical bond induced by the fixed current, a processing device programmed to determine a resistance of the electrical bond based on the fixed current and sensed voltage, and a wireless interface for transmitting at least one of the sensed voltage and the determined resistance to an external device. | 05-03-2012 |
20120158321 | Wireless Liquid Quantity Measurement System - Technologies are described herein for wirelessly measuring liquid quantity in an enclosure. According to various aspects, an incident electromagnetic wave is transmitted within a conductive enclosure. One or more rebound electromagnetic waves that correspond to the incident electromagnetic wave are received. Using the rebound electromagnetic waves, a transfer function of the rebound electromagnetic waves is measured and a quantity of liquid stored in the enclosure is calculated based on the measured transfer function. | 06-21-2012 |
20140036686 | Onboard Wireless Performance Testing - A method and associated wireless monitor and data analysis system are provided. The method includes installing one or more of a plurality of wireless monitors at respective locations onboard a complex system on which a wireless system of interest is installed or planned for installation. The method may then include by the plurality of wireless monitors, emulating the wireless system of interest, and recording data related to performance of the wireless system of interest at one or more recorded times over a plurality of operating conditions of the complex system. The method may also include by the plurality of wireless monitors, collecting data including the respective locations of the wireless monitors correlated with respective recorded data and recorded times. In this regard, the collected data for the plurality of wireless monitors may be retrievable for analysis of the wireless system of interest based thereon. | 02-06-2014 |
20150022373 | Wireless Fuel Sensor System - A method for generating sensor data is presented. A number of wireless power signals is sent to a group of sensor units. A number of wireless data collection signals is sent to the group of sensor units after the number of wireless power signals have been sent to the group of sensor units. Sensor data in a number of wireless response signals is received from the group of sensor units. | 01-22-2015 |
20150022376 | WIRELESS FUEL SENSOR SYSTEM - A sensor device includes a capacitive probe including a first conductor and a second conductor. The sensor device also includes a radio to generate a signal based on a measurement associated with the capacitive probe and to provide the signal to the first conductor for transmission using the capacitive probe as a transmission antenna. | 01-22-2015 |
20150051874 | QUALITY FACTOR ESTIMATION OF A REVERBERANT CAVITY - A method comprises collecting a data set of field characterization measurements at a location inside a reverberant cavity excited by signals having multiple discrete electromagnetic frequencies; and performing a number (n) of circular shifts on the data set by a frequency step (Δf) and computing a covariance-based coefficient at each shift until the coefficient indicates a lack of correlation. The method further comprises computing a quality factor (Q) of the reverberant cavity as fc/(Δf×n), where fc is center frequency of the data set. | 02-19-2015 |