Structure Health-Assessing Wireless Sensors

To reduce the amount of radioactive material in common use for commercial applications and thus improve public security, the DNDO is seeking replacements for devices that commonly incorporate such material. Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop a new Dielectric Relaxation Analyzing Gauge (DRAG) that will replace isotope-based gauges for thickness, level, and velocity measurements in materials such as polymers, glasses, and ceramics. The device implements improved time domain dielectric spectrometry. In addition to a simple capacitive probe, it contains a microcontroller-based data acquisition and processing board with digital output. DRAG determines the peak value of dielectric losses in the monitored material, which is proportional to the amount of this material between the electrodes of the capacitive probe; therefore, the signal is similar to the attenuation of radiation in an isotope gauge. The proposed device will not only replace isotope-based industrial gauging devices that consume ~50 kg of isotopes annually, but will have significant advantages such as the capability to simultaneously measure flow rate and/or to distinguish nonuniformity in materials. The project will result in the fabrication of a dielectrometric gauge and a demonstration of how it can replace isotope gauges.