Because of extended use of older airframes, increased mission requirements such as more severe catapults and arrestments, and adoption of more brittle alloys, monitoring of fatigue damage accumulation at particular locations on military aircraft has become important. While no small, self-contained data recorders for use in military environments are presently available, advances in low-power CMOS circuitry, battery technology, and high-density packaging indicate that mechanization of such a unit is achievable. The phase i feasibility study will investigate means for integrating the latest microprocessor and digital memory technology with optional algorithms, and various sensors (acceleration, strain, pressure and temperature). The project will culminate in a conceptual hardware design layout and performance analysis of a recording instrument having target specifications of: 8 cubic inches volume, 30 days self-power, use with internal or external transducers, multi-channel operation, 50hz bandwidth, and user control of range, data exclusions, bandwidth and storage format.
