COMPOSITE EMBEDDED FIBER OPTIC SENSORS FOR ACTIVE CONTROL OF SPACE STRUCTURES

AN ACTIVE STRUCTURAL VIBRATION CONTROL SYSTEM IS BEING DEVELOPED FOR STRATEGIC DEFENSE ORBITAL PLATFORMS. THIS SYSTEM IS EMPLOYING FIBER OPTIC SENSORS EMBEDDED IN COMPOSITE LAMINATED STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS TO ACHIEVE A RUGGED INTEGRATED SENSOR AND CONTROL SYSTEM RESULTING IN HIGH MANEUVERABILITY AND POINTING STABILITY. THIS CONCEPT OFFERS PARTICULAR ADVANTAGES IN TERMS OF DISTRIBUTED SENSOR PLACEMENT, GEOMETRY, AND SIGNAL PROCESSING CAPABILITIES. AN ANALYTICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL ASSESSMENT IS BEING PERFORMED TO: SELECT CANDIDATE CONTROL ALGORITHMS; IDENTIFY SENSOR AND SIGNAL PROCESSING REQUIREMENTS; DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF EMBEDDED OPTICAL SENSORS;AND ESTABLISH PROTOTYPE REQUIREMENTS FOR LATER DEVELOPMENT. TESTS OF PROTOTYPE COMPOSITE STRUCTURES WITH EMBEDDED SENSORS IS EXPECTED TO PROVIDE KEY BENCHMARK RESULTS FOR ADVANCED SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT. BEYONDTHE IMMEDIATE NEED FOR STRATEGIC DEFENSE PLATFORMS, THIS RESEARCH WOULD BE DIRECTLY APPLICABLE TO OTHER SPACE STRUCTURES AS WELL AS TO LARGE TERRESTRIAL STRUCTURES SUCH AS OCEAN PLATFORMS.