"Ernest Christley" wrote in message
om...
How about stress monitors built into the prop (I have no idea if anyone
makes such a thing). Would help you to carve a perfect prop.

How much would someone pay for the software to analyze this data? Also,
you'd probably need structurally integrated sensors, which would have to be
strong enough to support the loads. This would be a pretty tough engineering
problem in itself.

Miniature temp probes and air pressure sensors that you can stick all
over the place.

More software. Sure it could be done, but cheaply enough for the average
home builder?

Vibration sensors stuck inside control surfaces and different parts of
the skin. Early warning system for flutter.

Might be really expensive to get the signals characterized well enough for a
warning system.

Nothing is stopping anyone from doing any of this with wired sensors.
It would just be cleaner and easier if the wire can be left on the spool.

There's a ton of stuff stopping people from doing this right now. It's
money. None of the stuff you've mentioned is even remotely innexpensive. I
know people who've researched this stuff with the wired sensors for several
years, and haven't gotten much of it out of the lab. Yeah, with steady
improvements in computational fluids, finite element, mems tech, sensing
tech, etc., this stuff will be eventually packaged into something us
home-builder types can afford to use. However, most of it is still too
damned expensive, manpower intensive, and technically immature for even the
military to employ on huge aircraft development programs like JSF. By the
time this stuff really becomes generally available, I'm sure there will be
something better than blue tooth around.