A structural health monitoring project for a composite unmanned aerial vehicle wing: overview and evaluation tests

This special issue introduces an applied research project under which a structural health monitoring (SHM) system was developed for a composite unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). This special issue consists of five articles that present key studies performed by seven groups through the project. This article is the first one that outlines the project overview, developed components, and evaluation tests. The studies of this project focused on developing key components and algorithms that can be applicable to estimate load and detect damage in composite UAV wing structures. After the system architecture was drawn and the operational scenario was defined, an SHM system was specified as a set of sensor-integrated wing, onboard device, and ground station. Through the project, a series of sensor-integrated structures from coupon specimens to composite wings were fabricated, tested, and damage induced. And the onboard device with compact size was developed and used to monitor external load, structural events, and damage in real time. The ground station was also assembled and applied to estimate the severity, size, and location of damage. Finally, the developed hardware components and algorithms were evaluated through a series of tests. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.