Aero and Space

Health Monitoring of Systems
The health of any system is important from a functioning perspective. Diagnostics management is cumbersome and expensive.

MEMS ultrasonic transducers are being effectively used in testing discontinuity in solids, especially the metal structures such as bridges, building frame works and piping which can fail because of fatigue crack propagation or because of section loss from corrosion.

Arrays of MEMS capacitance diaphragms are used to transmit and receive ultrasonic energy (Piezoelectric transceivers) and identify the direction and magnitude of the signal, which indicates the nature of faults.

Furthermore, these transducers are mounted at crucial structural locations of interest. These transducers can be effectively bonded using silicon, which offers good acoustic coupling and does not damage the transducers. The projects involve the development of health monitoring systems based on MEMS devices for online monitoring in real time as well as development of condition monitoring systems for engine diagnostics.

Development of Secondary Payload for Microsatellite

Microsatellite
Although we have entered the era of big projects such as the Hubble Space Telescope,which has provided a plethora of scientific results, important science can still be done with small satellites launched as secondary payloads with other missions.

One of the least unexplored regions of space is the far ultraviolet where many important atomic and molecular emission and absorption lines lie.  Although this gas may fill most of the Galaxy, we are still not sure of its origin or distribution. The current project thus envisages the design and development of a payload that can be use to study the  spectrum by being launched through a microsatellite.