MicroStrain Inc.

MicroStrain, Inc

Wireless Sensors for

Structural Health Monitoring
Steve Arms, President
sales@microstrain com
sales@microstrain.com
www.microstrain.com

© MicroStrain, Inc. 2008 all rights reserved

 MicroStrain’s Smart Sensors
Displacement Orientation Wireless

G-Link®, V-Link® ,
DVRT® Micro--AHRS
Micro SG--Link®, TC
SG TC--Link®

Automated test Unmanned Machine

& ssemicon
o mfg
g systemss
sys monitoring
© microstrain, inc. 2008
Sensing
the Future

Wireless sensors, in the billions, will become

deeply embedded within structures &
machines.

Sensed information will be automatically

compressed & forwarded for condition
based maintenance. © microstrain, inc. 2008
 Market Size?
Wireless sensor market will reach $4.6 Billion by
2011, up from $500 Million in 2007*

MicroStrain’s Partners:
• Navy: NAVAIR/NAVSEA
• Bell Helicopter
• Sikorsky
• Caterpillar

*ON World report, "WSN for Smart Industries”, Nov 2007

© microstrain, inc.
www.assetmgmtnews.com “Industrial Sector Embraces Wireless Sensors” Jan 2008
2008
The
Economist
April 28th – May 4th
2007
“We’re wearing out…plan to replace us soon”
Problem:
Wh will
Who ill replace
l billions
billi off
dead batteries?

© microstrain, inc. 2008

 Solution*:
Solution :
• Harvest & store energy from strain
strain, vibration
vibration,
light, and motion

• Use power management to balance the energy

“checkbook”

• Use embedded processors to compress data,

compute fatigue life
*D.L. Churchill et al., “Strain Energy Harvesting for Wireless Sensor Networks”,
Smart Structures and Materials,
Materials SPIE,
SPIE vol.
vol 5005
5005, pp.
pp 319–327,
319 327 2003

M.J. Hamel et al., “Energy Harvesting for Wireless Sensor Operation and Data
Transmission”, US Patent #7081693, issued July 25th, 2006
© microstrain, inc. 2008
 Aircraft
Monitoringg
 The case for
monitoring

• Boeing F/A-
F/A-18
designed for 6,000 flight hours
• Existing hardwired multi
multi--channel monitoring
allows F/A-
F/A-18 to reach 13,000 flight hours
• New aircraft req’d to achieve the additional
flight--hours would cost ~$11B
flight

© microstrain, inc. 2007

MicroStrain’s NAVY PhI
PhI,, II, & III SBIRs:
H li
Helicopter
t Structural
St t l H Healthlth M
Monitoring
it i System
S t
(patents issued & pending)

© microstrain, inc. 2008

Patents pending
 Pitch Link w/ Energy Harvesting, Sensing, Data
Storage, & Wireless Communications
Communications*
MicroStrain,, Inc. patents pending
MicroStrain
Sikorsky H-60 Blackhawk
RF antenna

Circuit board module,

microprocessor, and
electrochemical batteryy

Piezoresistive strain gauge

Electrical insulation,
insulation EMI
shielding,
& protective covering
(shown transparent for
illustration purposes)

Piezoelectric energy
harvesting elements

* S.W. Arms et al., “Energy Harvesting Wireless Sensors for

Helicopter Damage Tracking”, AHS Phoenix, AZ, May 2006
© microstrain, inc. 2008
 MicroStrain’s Wireless
Strain & Load Sensing Nodes

Fractal antennas

Components on both sides

Components on 1 side
d

Patents Pending © microstrain, inc. 2008 all rights reserved

Measuring
Strains
Wirelessly
MicroStrain’s Wireless Strain System
patents pending
di data
d logging
l i transceivers
i

© microstrain, inc. 2008

 MicroStrain’s embedded firmware:
optimized for strain gauges

• Wireless offset adjust

• Wireless gain adjust
• Wireless
e ess co
control
to oof sa
sample
p e rates
ates
• Wireless shunt cal – bits to microstrain
• Low tempco
tempco’s
tempco’s:s:
s:
offset: -.007%/C , span: .015%/C
015%/C
• Mux’d
Mux d,
d, pulsed & regulated bridge excitation
Patents pending © microstrain, inc. 2008
How accurate are
MicroStrain’ss
MicroStrain
wireless strain
gauges?
Lockheed Martin Aerospace (LMA)
F ti
Fatigue T ti Environment
Testing E i t

© microstrain, inc.
2006
Lockheed Martin Aerospace Accuracy
Tests: Hard
d Wired
d vs. Wireless
l Strain*
*
(Baldwin Precision Calibrator used for strain input)

Wireless vs. Hard-Wired Correlation

• HBM MGCplus
y = 1.0002x + 1.1267
R2 = 1
®
8000
vs. MicroStrain 7000
V-Link ®
W ire le s s V-Link (m ic ros tra in)
6000

• Each system 5000

provided bridge
p g 4000

excitation 3000

• R^2=1 2000

•
1000
Max wireless 0
error: 2.5 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000

ustrain Hard-wired HBM MGCplus (microstrain)

* S.W. Arms et al., “Wireless Strain Measurement Systems for

Aircraft Test”, Aerospace Test Expo, Anaheim, CA, Nov 2006
© MicroStrain, Inc. 2008, all rights reserved
 Wired vs. Wireless Gauge Comparison on
DSTO F-18
F 18 Center
C t Barrel
B l Test
T tB Bed
d

• Two wireless SG-

Links sampled at 10
Hz
• DSTO wired system
collected strain data
at peaks
• Time synchronized
at beginning & end
of test
© microstrain, inc. 2008
DSTO F-18 Center Barrel Test Bed

© microstrain, inc. 2008

 DSTO F-18 Center Barrel Test Bed
(microstrain)
(

(microstrain)

© microstrain, inc. 2008

MIL-STD 810
MIL-
Test Results
 MIL--STD 810F tests
MIL
(three pitch link modules tested)

Method Test Parameters Results

501.4 - High Temperature 85 degrees C Passed*
2 hour soak

501.4 - Low Temperature -55 degrees C Passed*

2 hour soak

503 4 - Temperature Shock

503.4 85 degrees C Æ -45 degrees C Passed*
Passed
within 5 minutes
*TC Offset -0.007% of FS/deg C
TC Span 0.015% FS/deg C
513.5 – Acceleration
l i Centrifuge
f test d no observed
Passed, b d effect
ff off
60 g continuous acceleration on output
20 minutes

© microstrain, inc. 2008

Communicating g
Wirelesslyy
 2.4 GHz license
free bands:
WiFi (802.11.x)
(802 )&
Zi b (802.15.4)
Zigbee (802 15 4)
coexist
i t peacefully
f ll
802.15.4
802.15.4Channels
Channels
15,
15,20,
20,25,
25,&&26
26
are
arenon-overlapping
non-overlapping
with
with802.11b
802.11b

802.15.4 Channels
802.15.4 Channels
15, 16, 21, & 22
15, 16, 21, & 22
are non-overlapping
pp g
are non
non-overlapping
overlapping
with 802.11.b
with 802.11.b
Synchronizing
S h i i
Wireless &
Wired Networks
 MicroStrain’ss Data Aggregator™
MicroStrain
Synchronizes both wireless & wired sensor nets *

* S.W. Arms et al., “Energy Harvesting, Wireless Structural Health © microstrain, inc. 2008
Monitoring System”, 4th ESHM, Cracow, Poland, Jul 2008 patents pending
 MicroStain Data Aggregator(TM) Features:

• Open architecture, UC Linux operating system

• Synchronizes wired & wireless sensor networks

• Data are collected from various sensors, at widely different
sample rates, and aggregated into a single, scalable data
base

• Multiple bus interfaces supported:

• CAN
• IEEE802.15.4
• Ethernet
• RS232/RS422 (HUMS)
(HUMS)

Patents pending © microstrain, inc. 2008

 Timing Results Summary*
Summary
• Synch beacon sent once - at start of test only - provided
~5 ms timing accuracy over 2 hours, subjected to -40 to
+85 C.

• Synch w/ periodic (60 sec) beacon provided +/- 50 us

timing
g accuracy
y over 13 hours,, subjected
j to -40 to +85 C.

• Conservative approach: send resynch beacon every 20

minutes to achieve sub
sub-millisecond
millisecond timing accuracy when
temperatures may be extreme.

* S.W. Arms et al., “Energy Harvesting, Wireless Structural Health

Monitoring System”, 4th ESHM, Cracow, Poland, Jul 2008
© microstrain, inc. 2008
Making
M ki ththe mostt
of the 2.4 GHz
ISM band
 MicroStrain’s Scaleable Wireless Networks
TDMA/CSMA: 600 nodes*3 ch=ch= 1800 strain gauges, all updating @ 5Hz
add FDMA: 1800 strain gauges*16
gauges 16 radio chs
chs== 28,800 strain gauges

Time Division Multiple Access Frequency Division

(TDMA) & Multiple Access (FDMA)
Carrier Sense
Multiple Access (CSMA)
© microstrain, inc. 2008 patents pending
How many nodes will the system support?
Aggregate sample rate: ~10K
10K / total sensor channels

Synchronized TDMA/CSMA Capacity

10000

Update rate
(samples/sec)
1000 1000
500
250
200
100
nodes

100
50
25
Max # of n

20
10 10
5
2
1

1
1

0.1
0
Active channels per node (1 min, 8 max)

© microstrain, inc. 2008 patents pending

Flight
g Tests
 Bell M412 Flight Test *
• MicroStrain
piggy-
piggy
p ggy-backed
on Bell’s
planned flight
tests

• Wired (slip
rings) data
could be
collected
simultaneously
w/ wireless
data
* S.W. Arms et al., “Tracking Pitch Link Dynamic Loads with Energy Harvesting Patents pending
Wireless Sensors”, AHS 63nd Annual Forum, Virginia Beach, VA, May 2007 © microstrain, inc. 2008
Flight
Test
Results
• Energy harvesting wireless component (pitch link)
installed on Bell M412 Feb 2007 (first time ever flown)

• Passed
– in
in--flight EMI evaluations
– rotor track & balance verification
– wireless data collection during scripted flight with
no indication of data loss.
© microstrain, inc. 2008
 Bell M412 Wired vs. Wireless
Pitch Link Flight Test Data
from 2 separate & distinct strain gauges
Wireless PitchLink Loads
VNE dive test Flight Record #36
64 Hz wireless sensor sample rate - 500 Hz slip ring sample rate

1.5

0.5
ed)
Output (Normalize

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1

-0.5
0.5

-1

500 Hz Slip Ring

64 Hz Wireless
-1.5
Time

© MicroStrain, Inc. 2008, all rights reserved

 MicroStrain,, Inc. High Sample Rate Bench Test:
MicroStrain
hard--wired reference bridge vs. wireless pitch link
hard
(two separate & distinct strain gauge bridges bonded to a single steel plate in 4-
4-pt bending)
ostrain)
Strain (micro

© MicroStrain, Inc. 2008, all rights reserved

 Conclusions
• An energy harvesting wireless pitch link load
sensor Bell
B ll 412 has
h been
b developed,
d l d bench
b h
tested, & flight tested

• Under extremely low usage levels, the amount

of energy
gy generated
g exceeds the amount of
energy consumed

• This enables an on-

on-board wireless load sensor
to operate perpetually without battery
maintenance.
maintenance
Patents pending © MicroStrain, Inc. 2008, all rights reserved
 Conclusions (con’t)
( )
• An accurate time synchronization capability has been
developed for wireless & hard
hard-wired
wired sensor networks
that does not require GPS to maintain synchronization.

• The system supports a wide range of e-harvesting

nodes, including strain, pressure, torque, & temperature;
as well as wired inertial & GPS sensors
sensors.

• Data Aggregator node is stand-alone

stand alone, includes mobile
phone capability & scalable web-enabled database

© MicroStrain, Inc. 2008, all rights reserved

MicroStrain Competitive
p Advantages
g
Features Benefits
embedded intelligence sense, record, & report
damage & fatigue
patent pending data logging eliminates costly wiring
transceivers
patent pending energy eliminates battery
harvesters maintenance
base station GSM/SAT uplink no human intervention
required to get reports
wireless
l offset,
ff calibration
lb fast installation & test
© MicroStrain, Inc. 2008, all rights reserved
 Abo t MicroStrain,
About Mic oSt ain Inc.
Inc
• 36 employees
l (plus
( l 4 interns)
i t )
• 80% revenue from product sales
• products developed w/ SBIR funds
• growing
g g at 35%/year
/y
• zero debt
• no outside investment to date

© MicroStrain, Inc. 2008, all rights reserved

 Want more info?

New products & white papers:

www.microstrain.com/customer-docs.htm
 References:
• M.J. Hamel et al., “Energy Harvesting for Wireless Sensor Operation and Data
Transmission”, US Patent #7081693, issued July 25th 2006

• D.L.
D L Churchill et al.,
al “Strain
Strain Energy Harvesting for Wireless Sensor Networks
Networks,
Smart Structures and Materials”, SPIE, vol. 5005, pp. 319–327, 2003

• S.W. Arms et al., “Wireless

Wireless Strain Measurement Systems for Aircraft Test”,
Test”
Aerospace Test Expo
Expo, Anaheim
Anaheim, CA
CA, Nov 2006

• S.W. Arms et al., “Energy Harvesting Wireless Sensors for Helicopter Damage
Tracking”, American Helicopter Society (AHS) 62nd Annual Forum, Phoenix,
AZ May 2006
AZ,

• S.W. Arms, C.P. Townsend, D.L. Churchill, M. Augustin,

Augustin, D.Yeary,
D.Yeary, P. Darden,
N. Phan, “Tracking
“Tracking Pitch Link Dynamic Loads with Energy Harvesting Wireless
Sensors”, AHS 63nd Annual Forum, Virginia Beach, VA, May 2007

• S.W. Arms, J.H. Galbreath, C.P. Townsend, D.L. Churchill, N. Phan, “Energy
gy
Harvesting, Wireless Structural Health Monitoring System”, 4th European
Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring, Cracow, Poland, July 3rd, 2008
 Acknowledgements:
Vermontt EPSCoR
V EPSC R
Navy/NSF/DHHS SBIR
B ll Helicopter
Bell H li t
Caterpillar
DSTO Melbourne
M lb
Sikorsky
L kh d Martin
Lockheed M ti

Thank You! © microstrain, inc. 2008