A vibro-haptic interface development for impact detection on UAV wings

This paper presents a new sensing paradigm for structural impact detection using vibro-haptic interfaces. The goal of this study is to allow humans to "feel" structural response and eventually determine health conditions of a structure. The target applications for this study are aerospace structures, specifically UAV wings. First, L-shape piezoelectric sensor arrays are deployed to measure structural responses caused by an impact. A unique haptic signal is then generated and wirelessly transmitted to human arms. With the vibro-haptic interface, human pilots could identify impact location, intensity and possibility of subsequent damage initiation. Experimental results demonstrate that human could correctly identify such events, while reducing false indications on structural conditions by the haptic interface. Several important aspects of the haptic capability into structural impact detection are summarized in this paper.