BANGALORE: The Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) on Friday conducted trials on the unmanned air vehicle (UAV) Nishant N1532 at Kolar airfield during which a technology breakthrough was achieved.
According to the ADE, a new technology called structural health monitoring developed by the ADE and the National Aerospace Laboratories for the monitoring of structural health parameters while the UAV is in flight was tested.
This breakthrough enables the structural health of aeronautical structures to be monitored online and corrective action for the flight can be taken. This also enables the aircraft to be flown without unnecessarily grounding them.
Analysis algorithms have been developed to predict onset of failures which would be perfected using the data obtained through Friday's flight.
The use of such techniques will avoid unnecessary grounding of aircraft for inspection, the ADE said