Wireless sensors in aircraft structures set to provide lifetime monitoring

The University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) is part of the INFINITE consortium, which has been launched to address the control of aerostructure manufacturing processes and operating conditions, as well as reduce component costs.

Engineers from the AMRC’s composites team are supporting the consortium - which is funded by Horizon Europe and led by IDEKO, a Spanish advanced manufacturing R&D centre - in developing technology that will see wireless sensors incorporated into materials at the early stages of aeronautical structure manufacture.

“Being able to integrate highly-specific sensors into composite aerospace structures so early in the manufacturing process, and monitor the full life of a component, will represent significant progress in…manufacturing health monitoring and structural health monitoring,” said Fatma Omrani, a composites research engineer who is leading AMRC’s involvement in the project. “The early integration of these sensors and their wireless capability is a unique feature that is not currently available within existing solutions. It will provide means to manufacture higher quality components, as well as predict defects and damage more accurately.”