Smart environment monitoring fiber optic avionic PHM system

The idea of a novel fiber optic based discharge sensing scheme for an avionic PHM system is introduced and part of its preliminary results are presented. Light, flexible, and immune to EMI - optical fiber will provide an ideal solution for a non-invasive, low false alarm PHM system for avionic applications. Tiny optical fibers can be easily attached to, or embedded into structures, of interest. The system can monitor hundreds of meters of sensing fiber and will determine both the magnitude and location of wiring insulation defects with a practical spatial resolution