In the European FP7 project WiBRATE, Inertia Technology and LMS International have performed initial experiments with wireless vibration measurements of the helicopter rotor blade.
Real-time vibration monitoring of the helicopter rotor blade can increase the overall flight safety, enhancing the pilot awareness of the flight limits, and thus resulting in fewer accidents and lower maintenance costs. However, present day techniques for monitoring helicopter rotor blades are highly complicated and expensive operations.
This is why the WiBRATE project aims to develop a low-cost solution based on miniaturized wireless inertial sensors with self-powering capabilities. The experiments performed by Inertia and LMS constitute the starting point for the development of such a dedicated wireless sensing platform.