Sensed to the skin

摘要

Future aircraft could have 'smart skin' that enables them to instantly detect damage, if research by BAE Systems comes to fruition. Researchers at the company's Advanced Technology Centre (ATC) have covered aircraft panels with an array of tiny sensors that enable the craft to analyse both its condition and the environment around it in minute detail. The company said the wireless sensor packages or 'motes', which could be made to measure a wide range of variables from temperature and wind speed to strain and corrosion, could eventually be shrunk to under 1mm~3 and power themselves with energy-harvesting technology.