Real-time Wireless Shape Monitoring of Space Structures
In 2008, Dr. Ali Abedi, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Maine, received a three-year NASA EPSCoR award. This project will improve the reliability and power consumption of wireless sensors used by NASA. The research objectives for this project are to: develop and implement robust 3-D estimation techniques for embedding sensors, develop specialized dynamic shape analysis techniques to capture the nonlinear response of structures, and simplify collected data into a 3-D model to facilitate human interface. With this NASA EPSCoR funding, Dr. Abedi and his research team are developing the next generation of wireless sensor technology to mutually benefit NASA and the state of Maine. “I don’t look at this as a one-time three-year project,” he said. “I look at it more as the development of infrastructure....It’s a win-win situation. We help NASA to go to the next level and they also help us so that the state economy grows. That’s the benefit of EPSCoR.”
