Air Force Phase I SBIR awarded for subsurface landing gear inspection system

Barron Associates will develop a laser-based system to detect subsurface voids and defects in coated landing gear components.  The system builds upon technology that uses precise, repeated measurements of thermal conductance across 3-dimensional spatial energy paths within a test article.  By measuring changes in the transmission of thermal energy along multiple paths, defects of various types can be located with high fidelity.  Adaptive sampling algorithms (first developed in BAI’s previous corrosion mapper projects) will be expanded for this effort.   A probabilistic approach to defect detection is provided, with confidence bounds on the presence or absence of critical flaws that render a component unsafe.