Description: In response to NASA solicitation H13.02 for Advanced NDE Techniques for spaceflight components and large complex structures, Advanced Systems and Technologies Inc. (AS&T Inc), propose a collaborative program which seeks to combine an advanced modular, smart sensor technology for rapid wide-area capture of ultrasound wave-field data with recent advances in NDE guided wave signal processing and to integrate these under a global tracking scheme that accurately determines the NDE sensor position and orientation, supporting data capture and registration on large space flight structures. The Reconfigurable Optical Velocimeter for Autonomous Structural Inspection in Space (ROVASIS), combined with remote laser-generated ultrasound excitation and narrow tone-band decomposition provide deep data sets for application of new spatio-temporal and spatio-spectral analyses to address a broad range of NDE functions pertinent to NASA spaceflight structures. Integrating fiber optic telecommunications technology with very large scale integrated electronics, ROVASIS is, in form and function, a sensor geared towards practical deployment of guided wave NDE, targeting multiple defect modalities in current and future complex spaceflight structures.

Benefits: In addition to its primary role in targeting NDE of large NASA spaceflight structures, ROVASIS can also be deployed for NDE of multi-walled composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPV), tiles, micro-meteoroid shielding, radiators and various aerospace structures. The fundamental principles of the NDE approach also support non-contact inspection on both thin metallic and various composite materials without regard to their exact makeup. Composite structures in particular are increasingly being incorporated in the construction of NASA spaceflight vehicles, notable examples including: the Antares Launch vehicle, Orion thermal protection support system (TPSS) for crew exploration and vehicle attachment structure (TAS), Launch Abort System (LAS) and the Lunar Lander (in composite struts). In addition to its inherent modular design the sensor architecture, geared towards field deployed instrumentation, the reconfigurabilty of ROVASIS facilitates multi-tier search and damage assessment for NDE and structural health monitoring of complex spaceflight structures employing composites, thin light-weight metals and hybrids.

The application of the proposed NDE system is anticipated to be of immediate benefit to all branches of military and commercial aerospace organizations concerned with aircraft maintenance and general fleet airworthiness. However the potential areas of application extend beyond this to commercial spaceflight, automotive, industrial and maritime fields where composite structures are similarly employed for a wide variety of applications due to their light weight and strength. The ROVASIS concept and related instruments is anticipated to appeal to a broad spectrum of applications and industries where existing commercial single beam LDV's are currently employed. In addition to performing routine vibration measurements much more efficiently (orders of magnitude faster than LDV) the imaging modality of the ROVASIS is anticipated to find new diagnostic capability beyond those of traditional LDV.