Optical sequence time domain reflectrometry for aircraftwire fault detection

Aircraft today are being used well beyond their expected lifetime. Although regular maintenance and troubleshooting is thoroughly done, wiring on the aircraft is an issue that still needs to be resolved. Over the last decade, increasingly high importance has been given to aircraft wiring as wiring has been the root cause of some major aircraft disasters. This thesis discusses some of the methods used to detect faults on aircraft wires and the need to develop faster and more efficient methods to do the same. The work done in this thesis focuses on acousto optics SSTDR (AO-SSTDR) methods to develop wire fault detection systems on aircrafts and discusses the results obtained from the research. The AO-SSTDR architecture leverages the correlation properties of acousto-optic crystals. This research aims at achieving a better resolution and faster processing times than some of its electrical counterparts. Once commercialized, this research can be a promising solution to the aging aircraft wiring problems and the aviation industry, thus saving hundreds of lives and millions of dollars to the aviation industry.