Impact localization and scaling for SHM of inflatable habitats

This work focuses on the structural monitoring of an inflatable lunar habitat, more specifically, characterizing impacts on the surface of such a structure. Given the lack of an atmosphere, the moon is not shielded from small space debris that would normally incinerate on earth, creating the need for these additional safeguards. This project explores an accelerometer based system to localize and scale an impact on the structures surface. An inflatable testbed is setup with appropriately selected sensors and data collection hardware. Tailored for wireless sensor implementation, methodologies are developed that utilize the accelerometer array to accurately determine the location, and calculate the intensity of, an impacting object. Various approaches to the caveats of such a task are explored throughout. Finally, the resulting algorithms are tested and evaluated on the lunar habitat test structure, providing a working proof-of-concept for an accelerometer based wireless impact localization and scaling system.