Boeing Phantom Works has published a very interesting paper on a system to detect corrosion in aircraft using wireless sensors at IMECE 2006. Previous research into aircraft maintenance has shown that "by far, the largest single maintenance problem facing the operators [airlines] is structural corrosion."

Their proposed solution is an environmentally powered wireless network of Tmote Sky nodes with corrosion sensors. The system is powered by a piezoelectric bimorph energy harvester with a power conditioning circuit. It operates at a 0.13% duty cycle, sending corrosion readings every 30 minutes.

According to the authors, "Moteiv's Tmote Sky transceiver design requires the least amount of power to operate. In addition, the Moteiv transceiver met all of our requirements and was the lowest in cost."

For more information, see the ASME website and look for paper IMECE2006-13381.

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