Boeing has opened up the possibility of incorporating structural health monitoring as early as the 787-3 variant, due to enter production in 2009.
Although previously saying it would not use built-in sensors because the technology was not thought sufficiently mature, Boeing now says: "If we were to incorporate the capability at some point, it would likely be no earlier than the -3 or the -3 timeframe. When that time comes and the technology is mature, we'll analyse the capability and see if it's economically beneficial for us and our customers to incorporate it into our models. As far as retrofitting goes, again we'll have to analyse the technology and capability."
Speaking at MRO Europe in Amsterdam last week, Dan Da Silva, Boeing Commercial Aviation Services' vice-president sales and marketing, said the company planned to "weave" sensors into the fuselage sections from year three of 787 production.
Source: Flight International
