CHANNELS

Aerospace

Automotive

Automated & Autonomous Vehicles

Battery & Electrification Technology

Defense

Drone TV

Electronics

Manufacturing & Prototyping

Materials

Medical

Motion Control

RF & Microwave Technology

Robotics & Automation

Sensors & IoT

Test & Measurement

Aerospace
Automotive
Automated & Autonomous Vehicles
Battery & Electrification Technology
Defense
Drone TV
Electronics
Manufacturing & Prototyping
Materials
Medical
Motion Control
RF & Microwave Technology
Robotics & Automation
Sensors & IoT
Test & Measurement
Aerospace & Defense
Search Results

Wireless Sensor System to Detect Leaks on the International Space Station

Leaks causing air and heat loss are a major safety concern for astronauts. University of Maine researchers are designing and testing a wireless leak detection system for the International Space Station (ISS) that could lead to increased safety on the ISS and for other space activities by helping astronauts and scientists quickly isolate and repair damage that affects pressurized environments. Their project was one of five in the nation to receive funding from NASA's Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) for research and technology development onboard ISS. It involves the development of a flight-ready wireless sensor system that will be able to quickly detect and localize leaks, even before they start to cause any pressure drop, based on ultrasonic sensor array signals. The proposed system is fast, accurate, and capable of detecting multiple leaks and localizing them with a lightweight and low-cost system. The technology also could be used on Earth in the event of gas and oil leaks at industrial plants.

Topics:
Aerospace Data Acquisition Data Acquisition Detectors Electronic Components Electronics & Computers Measuring Instruments Semiconductors & ICs Sensors Test & Measurement

More From SAE Media Group

    Transcript

    00:00:14 So this wireless leak detection system is part of a larger research at WiSe-Net Lab, which is wireless sensing in general, but for this specific project we are interested in finding very small leaks even before they start to cause any pressure drop So, if you're in an aerospace structure up in space, it’s pressurized, you have oxygen in it so anyone in the structure can breath. If, say, an object hits the structure and causes a hole in the structure, the pressurized oxygen is going to leak out. Each sensor has four small sensors on it

    00:00:51 and it measures angle of attack, which means angle of the signal from where it’s coming from. So if you measure all four of those simultaneously you can tell what angle the leak is coming from. So, we first start with the simulation, both on computer and with actual hardware. We generate a leak, add a bunch of statistical noise to it and then make a bunch of guesses to where the leak is. Then we put it through an algorithm that we developed, and we say this is most likely where the location for the leak is. And then we compare how close it was to the actual place.

    00:01:26 The time line is that by next year we should have a prototype that is being tested here at UMaine and we go for a test at Johnson Space Center, and then by the beginning of the second year we’ll have the device ready to be tested in space. Once it goes up to space, the astronauts who live in the ISS, they will install it, turn it on leave it there for a while and then turn it off and ship it back to us. In the third year we’ll will look at the device, analyze the data, figure out the strengths and the shortcomings of the device and hopefully

    00:01:58 we’ll propose a new design for the next generation.