Canpolar East, a Canadian machine-vision company based in St Johns, New- foundland, is looking for partners to develop a laser-based system able to measure ice accumulation on aerofoils. The technology, developed by Canada's National Research Centre (NRC), could form the basis of a hand-held sensor for use in wing de-icing, the company believes.
Pointing a laser beam at an ice-covered surface produces a bright spot surrounded by a ring of light, or "halo", caused by reflection within the ice. The diameter of the halo is proportional to the thickness of the ice. Canpolar's system uses a camera with image-processing software to measure halo diameter and determine ice thickness.
Canpolar has licensed the technology from the NRC, where it has been used to measure ice accumulation on a model aerofoil and helicopter rotor, and to determine the thickness of de-icing and anti-icing ßuid on a model wing in a windtunnel. The system has been flown on the NRC's Convair 580 testbed.
Source: Flight International
