Challenge
Structural health management (SHM) of assets in defence and aerospace conventionally relies on costly ground inspections and fixed conservative maintenance schedules, leading to excessive downtime and high operational costs. There is a strong need for reliable on-board SHM monitoring solutions, able to withstand the harsh environmental conditions, to improve operational efficiency, safety and predictive maintenance.
Opportunity
PIC-based fibre sensing offers a superior on-board sensing platform: one that’s robust, lightweight, and immune to electromagnetic interference. Building on Dutch leadership in both photonic chip technology and fibre sensing, this mission enables accelerated design-in and predictable delivery of sensing solutions across key aerospace defence platforms.
Solution
Given the opportunity, the aim for the PhotonDelta mission is to accelerate design-in and scaling of fibre sensing solutions for critical assets in aerospace, defence, and infrastructure. Further, it ensures leveraging the latest advancements of PIC integration for the next generation of robust SWaP-C PIC packaging and systems, enabling further scaling and mainstream adoption.
Benefits
The sensing solutions support digital twin technology combined with real-time monitoring and predictive maintenance. This enables a shift from scheduled inspections to data-driven asset management, improving efficiency, safety, and transparency throughout the asset lifecycle.
