US Government As Represented by the Secretary of the Army

James T Stewart

Elio A Mariani

Raymond C McGowan

A surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensing device for remotely sensing structu integrity of a physical structure. The sensing device includes a piezoelectric substrate with a notch formed part way in the bottom of the substrate and along the width thereof. The substrate is mounted to a physical structure of interest. An antenna is coupled to the RF circuit on the substrate and is capable of receiving and transmitting a RF signal. Interdigital input and output transducers are disposed on the upper surface of the substrate. The input transducer is located adjacent one end of the substrate and the output transducer is located adjacent an opposing end of the substrate. Bus bars connect the input and output transducers. The input transducer provides a complementary first response upon receipt of an RF expanded linear/nonlinear FM signal from the antenna and transmits this compressed pulse to the output transducer. The output transducer provides a second response upon receipt of the first response and transmits the same to the antenna via the bus bar. When the substrate is strained beyond a predetermined critical level, the substrate is fractured along the notch and the first response emitted by the input transducer is prevented from being transmitted to the output transducer indicating SAW sensor failure and that structural integrity has been compromised.

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Nashua, NH, United States of America

James T Stewart