Flexible smart sensing skin for “Fly-by-Feel” morphing aircraft

Abstract

Flexible smart sensing skin is a key enabling technology for the future "Fly-by-Feel" control of morphing aircraft. It represents the next-generation skin of aircraft that can exhibit a more powerful sensing function than a conventional one and could be mounted on arbitrary curvilinear surfaces, especially for advanced autonomic, morphing aircraft. Recent significant technical advances in flexible electronics have overcome many historic drawbacks of conventional smart skin, e.g., only a limited number of discrete block sensors can be integrated due to the inevitable structural damage and heavy guidelines. Herein, we review the key developments in flexible sensors technology and highlight both the state-of-the-art devices and the potential applications for the measurement of aircraft. We begin with the importance of flexible smart skin for morphing aircraft and then expand to the latest progress in various types of flexible sensors. Then we highlight flexible sensors as smart skin to measure aerodynamic parameters and monitor the structural health, and further to achieve the Fly-by-Feel control. Finally, the challenges and opportunities on flexible smart sensing skin are discussed, from the functional design to practical applications.

A Snakeskin‐Inspired, Soft‐Hinge Kirigami Metamaterial for Self‐Adaptive Conformal Electronic Armor

“…This is especially meaningful for complex application scenarios, i.e., soft robots with deformable surfaces, [ 50 ] biointegrated devices on hearts [ 51 ] and bladders, [ 52 ] and flexible smart skin on morphing aircraft. [ 53 ]…”

“…This is especially meaningful for complex application scenarios, i.e., soft robots with deformable surfaces, [50] biointegrated devices on hearts [51] and bladders, [52] and flexible smart skin on morphing aircraft. [53] A flexible tube-like E-armor is fabricated to mimic the dynamic process of the snake swallowing an egg. The E-armor is equipped with flexible pressure sensors (Figure 6A) along its length, based on a cavity structural design, for the perception of the egg via the pressure-induced capacitance change.…”

Recent Progress in Flexible Pressure Sensor Arrays

“…So, it is crucial to accurately measure the parameter of such an aircraft’s structures and external environment. Recently, there have been more and more demands to apply flexible pressure sensor arrays in curved aircraft structures [ 121 ]. For example, to measure the pressure in wind-flow surroundings, a range-programmable capacitive pressure sensor array was demonstrated by Xiong et al [ 122 ].…”

High-Performance Strain Sensors Based on Au/Graphene Composite Films with Hierarchical Cracks for Wide Linear-Range Motion Monitoring

“…Flexible smart skins, as perceptional parts of wearable healthcare devices, bionic robots, and intelligent aircrafts, play key roles in diverse tasks including physiological signal detection, joint movement control, and flight-state monitoring. − Due to excellent dexterity and conformability, stretchable strain sensors based on nanomaterial thin films have aroused extensive interest to equip flexible smart skins with essential motion-monitoring functions. − Despite the development in this field, stretchable strain sensors are still limited due to the lack of integration capability to simultaneously detect small and large strains for practical applications. Sensitivity is a paramount metric to assess the capability of strain sensors to precisely detect subtle strain signals.…”