Abrtracr ~ Strain prediction at various locations on a smart composite wing can provide useful information on its aerodynamic condition. The smart wing consisted of a glasslepoxy composite beam with three Extrinsic Fahry-Perot Interferometric (EFPI) sensors mounted at three different locations near the wing root. Strain acting on the three sensors at different air speeds and angles-of-attack were experimentally ohtained in a closed circuit wind tunnel under normal conditions of operation. A function mapping fhe angle of attack and air speed to the strains on the three sensors was simulated using feed-forward neural networks trained using hack-propagation training algorithm. This mapping provides a method to predicl stall condilion by comparing the strain available in real time and the predicted strain by the trained neural network. I INTRODUCT~ONAdvanced composite materials are being used in substantial amounts for the developmeni and construction of advanced aerospace structures [ I ] that provides the structures with clear advantages of long life, high strength-to-weight ratio, and flexible design. A built-in Health Monitoring System (HMS) can monitor structural condition, and react to any changes in environment, resulting in a smart structure 12-31. Research in HMS development for efficient smart structures has improved capability in data interpretation or control functions [3-61. The choice of an optical sensor system, an important component of a HMS, has proven to he an effective choice owing to the number of advantages over non-optical sensors including little perturbation to the host structure, immunity to electromagnetic interference and the ability to form multiplexed networks for complex measurements [2].Advances in fiber optic sensing technology are reducing the weight, required power, and the cost. Fiber optic sensor based HMS have been used for monitoring structural integrity [7-81, vibration control [9], and damage assessment using modal analysis [IO].Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) are being used extensively as an efficient processing system due to their capabilities in pattern recognition, classification and function approximation [4-6, 10-1 11. The integration of optical sensor system and ANNs has enhanced the applications of fiherreinforced composite components into aerospace systems.Research has been carried out on the development of a smart helicopter rotor model using neural networks [IZ]. Neural networks are being extensively used in many aerospace applications including auto-pilots, flight path simulations, control systems, component simulations and fault detection Prediction of aerodynamic parameters under varying load conditions on an aircraft wing would provide useful information on the working condition of the wing. One such parameter is the strain levels acting at various points on the wing. The mathematical modeling of strain levels using known parameters such as angle-of-attack and wind speed is highly complex and not feasible. Complication factors are unpredictable wing stall, cond...

The design, development, and assessment of web-based multimedia learning resources are important aspects of engineering education. The Media Design and Assessment Laboratory at the University of Missouri-Rolla was established to facilitate the interaction between web designers and content providers. It was created under the auspices of the Instructional Software Development Center. This paper will discuss design philosophy in terms of the identification of fundamental concepts, development steps, and assessment implementation within the context of ongoing projects. These projects include modules for an optics curriculum, tutorials for an interdisciplinary course, and interactive software for a basic engineering course.

Engineers interact in the workplace with technical peers in other disciplines at all stages of design, development, and application. Awareness of the constraints and needs of the other disciplines can be key in many situations. Such interdisciplinary activity and the associated communication are facilitated if the all participants have a solid knowledge of discipline-specific terminology and an understanding of connecting concepts. Consequently, experience relating to interdisciplinary teamwork is a necessary component of engineering education. The Smart Engineering Group at the University of Missouri-Rolla was established to conduct interdisciplinary research and to create interdisciplinary educational resources. The topical interest area is smart structures which requires the integration of materials, structures, sensing, signal processing, manufacturing, etc. The interdisciplinary research and educational activities of the group, the assessment of those activities, and the experiences of several graduate students will be described. The effectiveness of collaborative student work was tied to the students' understanding of the needed synergy and their comfort with cross-disciplinary communication. Also, an interdisciplinary course, which grew out of the group's experiences, provided systematic preparation for graduate research projects. The role of this course will be discussed as it relates to the quality of collaborative experiences from both student and faculty perspectives. I.

An instructional WorldWide Web (WWW) site for a smart composite bridge provides technical documentation to a diverse audience including professional and student users. It describes a prototype bridge project that demonstrates the use of fibre-reinforced-composites and smart sensing techniques for civil engineering applications. This smart composite bridge is a long-term technological demonstration for industry and an interdisciplinary field laboratory for students. The site content includes live images, technical details, associated publications, manufacturing protocols and developmental testing. The site objectives are to provide current information, to organise progressive levels of detail and to exploit WWW instructional capabilities. Clear organisation, navigational aids, supplementary helps and content layering balances the user needs (1) for simplicity through consistent presentation and usability and (2) for complexity through user-centred options and multimedia. This instructional tool models effective communication of research to industry and the classroom. It shows how site design can accommodate diverse needs of information delivery.

The Smart Engineering project seeks to develop a model for training engineers with interdisciplinary skills and experiences. It involves an interdisciplinary course and a demonstration highway bridge. An associated WWW site provides course resources including tutorials in topical areas, exercises promoting team interaction, and guidance for collaborative activities and bridge documentation which facilitates industry access to current research and field applications in smart structures. It must accommodate a well-defined internal student audience and a general external industry audience. The site objectives are to effectively inform both audiences and to exploit the capabilities of the WWW. The design philosophy stresses the close interaction of content providers with media programmers and the careful consideration of audience characteristics. It follows comprehensive guidelines for modularity, circularity, and commonality and balances contrasting goals of simplicity and complexity. The former concerns the site hierarchy, usage, and navigation. The latter concerns usability verses interactivity and consistency verses adaptability.