Market opportunities on fiber optic sensors for aeronautics and aerospace applications

Since the appearance of fiber optic sensors in the late 1970s, fiber optic sensing has been considered one of the most promising technologies to be used in structural health monitoring for aerospace applications. The irruption of advanced composites in space and military applications along this decade, and the posterior generalization in airliners along the 1980s was considered as an opportunity for these sensors, due to their up to date unique capability to be embedded in this materials with moderate intrusivity. The appearance of fiber Bragg gratings in late 1980s seemed to confirm an easy incorporation to the aerospace market. However, today, the use of fiber optic sensors on board of aircrafts is still little more than symbolic, and the obstacles for this slow application are still important: qualification of sensors and demodulator for on board operation, demonstration of reliability of measurements done by bonded or embedded sensors, demonstration of health monitoring capability in real scenarios, and demonstrate cost-effectiveness.