IGF::OT::IGF TASK ORDER NO. NND13CS04T HEAT SHIELD PROTOTYPE HEALTH MONITORING DEMONSTRATION PROJECT TITLE: MONITORING OF THERMAL PROTECTION SYSTEMS (TPS) USING ROBUST SELF-ORGANIZING OPTICAL FIBER SENSING NETWORKS THE OBJECTIVE OF THE WORK IS TO TEST AND EVALUATE THE PROTOTYPE HEAT SHIELD WHOSE CONSTRUCTION WAS COMPLETED UNDER PRIOR TASK ORDER NO. NND12CS03T. THE PROTOTYPE HEAT SHIELD SERVES AS THE THERMAL PROTECTION SYSTEM (TPS) DEMONSTRATOR FOR THE HEALTH MONITORING SYSTEM. UNDER THIS TASK ORDER, THIS SYSTEM WILL BE USED TO DEMONSTRATE IMPACT DETECTION AND LOCATION FOLLOWED BY A FUNCTIONAL DEMONSTRATION OF A FULL TPS HEALTH MONITORING. THIS TPS DEMONSTRATOR WILL USE RESULTS FROM STUDIES OF THE ACOUSTIC AND THERMAL PROPERTIES OF CERAMIC INSULATION MATERIALS AND DYNAMICALLY RECONFIGURABLE (SWITCHED) OPTICAL FIBER BRAGG GRATING (FBG) SENSING NETWORKS. STRUCTURAL HEALTH MONITORING SYSTEMS ARE ENVISAGED TO PROVIDE TWO CRITICALLY IMPORTANT CAPABILITIES FOR THE HEALTH MONITORING OF FUTURE AEROSPACE VEHICLES: DETECTING STRUCTURAL DAMAGE AND PERFORMING COMPREHENSIVE STRUCTURAL MONITORING. UNDER TASK ORDERS ISSUED UNDER THIS CONTRACT, THE NASA DRYDEN FLIGHT RESEARCH CENTER (DFRC) AND AUSTRALIA'S COMMONWEALTH SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH ORGANISATION (CSIRO) MATERIALS SCIENCE&ENGINEERING WILL COLLABORATE TO DEVELOP AND DEMONSTRATE INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES TO ASSESS THE STRUCTURAL HEALTH OF THERMAL PROTECTION SYSTEMS. THIS RESEARCH PROJECT WILL RESULT IN AN INTEGRATED SYSTEM DEMONSTRATION ON A LARGE SCALE AEROSPACE VEHICLE STRUCTURE. THE BENEFITS OF A SYSTEM SUCH AS THIS OVER A CONVENTIONAL CENTRALLY-CONTROLLED NETWORK INCLUDE ROBUSTNESS (THERE IS NO SINGLE POINT OF FAILURE, AND THE NETWORK CAN CONTINUE TO FUNCTION IN THE PRESENCE OF DAMAGE IN SOME AREAS), SCALABILITY (THE NUMBER OF AGENTS AND SENSORS CAN BE GREATLY INCREASED WITHOUT DEGRADING SYSTEM PERFORMANCE), AND ABILITY TO RESPOND EFFECTIVELY TO DYNAMIC ENVIRONMENTS. THE WORK DEFINED IS CRITICALLY BASED ON PREVIOUS SPECIFIC ADVANCES IN THE STATE-OF-THE-ART MADE BY CSIRO IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF PROPRIETARY ARCHITECTURE. CSIRO IS AUSTRALIA'S NATIONAL SCIENCE AGENCY AND ONE OF THE LARGEST AND MOST DIVERSE RESEARCH AGENCIES IN THE WORLD. NASA HAS BEEN ENGAGED WITH CSIRO ON THIS RESEARCH SINCE 2001.