Digitalized Global Impact Localization for Complex Composites Based on Wireless PZT Sensor Network

Various impact monitoring systems have been proposed based on wireless sensor network (WSN) in the past decades. However, most of the research only concentrated on the developments of wireless sensor nodes instead of networks. For real aircraft applications, WSN-based impact monitoring with multiple nodes is necessary for large-scale structures. Under this situation, WSN-based globe impact localization algorithm is an important issue to be addressed, yet few reports can be found so far. Meanwhile, real aircraft composites usually have complex styles that can degrade the performance of monitoring algorithms, which is vital for successful applications. Hence, in this article, a global impact localization method with a large-scale Bluetooth-based piezoelectric transducer (PZT) sensor network is proposed. Two impact localization algorithms are comprehensively researched and evaluated on a complex aircraft panel structure. Furthermore, a real aircraft wing box structure with multiple nodes is adopted for an overall evaluation of the network. Satisfying results are achieved.