Project Summary
 

Team Members

(left to right)

Tobias Alexander

Shaun Murphy

Sam Zaila

Marcus Hoban

 

Project Scope
Design a structural sensor system that will detect and feed information to a Damage Control Officer indicating the damage done to a fire prevention system from the "weapons effect" in a matter of seconds.  This system will automatically reroute the flow of water to maintain operation as necessary until repairs can be made and the system can be reset.

Background
Recently, research efforts that center on emerging sensor technology have been committed to improving Damage Control applications.  One of the more advanced studies of emerging technologies involves the ability of a sensor system to determine the integrity of a ship after it has been hit by a weapon.  By integrating various sensor capabilities, evolving systems are able to predict the stability of the ship and automatically react accordingly.

Traditionally, if damage was inflicted to the ship's hull, runners would be sent out to estimate water depth and rate changes and report back to the Damage Control Officer in order to estimate the ship stability using a series of calculations and monographs which can take several minutes.  Under this new approach, a structural sensor system would feed information back describing the damage (holes, cracks, water leakage) from the "weapons effect" in a matter of seconds.  This multi-function structural weakness and leakage detection system detects various environmental parameters, analyzes the data, makes an assessment of the situation regarding the thread level, and alerts proper authority (operator/external systems) of the event via a network communication interface.  It automatically opens/closes the necessary valves to re-route the leaking fluid.  When the situation is understood, the stability of the ship can then be determined and vital decisions can take place.