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NASA Meatball Ikhana Photo Collection banner
 
Ikhana

Ikhana fiber optic wing shape sensor team: clockwise from left, Anthony "Nino" Piazza, Allen Parker, William Ko and Lance Richards.

 
Photo Number: ED08-0109-08
Photo Date: May 1, 2008
 
Formats: 640x619 JPEG Image (217 KBytes)
1280x1237 JPEG Image (702 KBytes)
3000x2899 JPEG Image (3628 KBytes)
 
Photo
Description:
Ikhana fiber optic wing shape sensor team: clockwise from left, Anthony "Nino" Piazza, Allen Parker, William Ko and Lance Richards. The sensors, located along a fiber the thickness of a human hair, aren't visible in the center of the Ikhana aircraft's left wing.

NASA Dryden Flight Research Center is evaluating an advanced fiber optic-based sensing technology installed on the wings of NASA's Ikhana aircraft. The fiber optic system measures and displays the shape of the aircraft's wings in flight. There are other potential safety applications for the technology, such as vehicle structural health monitoring. If an aircraft structure can be monitored with sensors and a computer can manipulate flight control surfaces to compensate for stresses on the wings, structural control can be established to prevent situations that might otherwise result in a loss of control.

 
NASA Photo by: Tom Tschida
 
Keywords: Ikhana, fiber optic wing shape sensor, vehicle structural health monitoring, Anthony "Nino" Piazza, Allen Parker, William Ko, Lance Richards
 


Last Modified: June 9, 2008
Responsible NASA Official: Marty Curry
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