The StrainWISE Project Acclaimed at Mechatronics Awards 2013

The Clean Sky project StrainWISE has been awarded the “Research” prize of the Mechatronics Awards 2013 at the European mechatronics meetings held in Toulouse on 25 and 26 September 2013. The consortium responsible for this success is made up of CSEM (coordinator), Imperial College London and Serma Ingénierie.

This particularly ambitious project resulted in the development of a high-performance and ultra-low-power wireless sensor network platform meeting the requirements of the aeronautical industry. Such wireless communication devices open up new possibilities for the preventive maintenance of aircrafts, for improving cabin supervision and passenger comfort, as well as for better monitoring the aircraft critical structures and equipment such as the engines or landing gears.

The proposed solution allows the installation of a large number of sensors, without any restrictions on their location, hence providing additional or more precise data. The new information, provided without any additional wires, allows for an improved control of the aircraft and presents major advantages compared to traditional solutions, notably in terms of fuel consumption and maintenance costs.

The StrainWISE project, initiated by Airbus as part of the Clean Sky program, clearly demonstrates the wide range of use of wireless sensor networks in aeronautical applications. Each sensor is equipped with a radio transceiver and an independent power supply. Energy consumption, both during flight and while the aircraft is on the ground, has been reduced to a minimum by a combination of energy-efficient electronic components and by the optimisation of the communication protocol: using the right protocol is a key enabler, as radio transmissions represent by far the biggest power drain.

The combination of the various selected techniques made it possible to solely power the sensor by harvesting from a thermoelectric energy recovery unit, therefore avoiding the need to change batteries throughout the sensor’s 35-year life.

Thanks to this unlimited autonomy, a wide array of sensors can now be placed very close to the structures to be monitored, at places that would be very difficult to access for maintenance, such as in the fuselage, the wings and the stabilizer. Each sensing node allows the measurements to be timed with an accuracy of less than a millisecond, for sampling rates ranging from 120 to 500 Hz, and carries its information by radio to the plane computers. They do not interfere with the operation of the pre-existing devices, as the system successfully passed the qualification tests related to radio interferences – qualifications which are subject to extremely stringent criteria.

A demonstrator has been delivered to Airbus and is currently undergoing tests. The partners are pursuing their collaboration as part of a new Clean Sky project called FLITE-WISE, the objective of which is to create a new platform of high-speed autonomous sensors intended for use on the outside of the aircraft, both on fixed and moving parts.