Stratosphere Structural Health Management Solutions for Military Aircraft

Stratosphere develops innovative solutions for critical systems and structures in the defence industry.

The company specialises in the development and deployment of advanced cyber-physical systems for military applications.

Stratosphere’s core defence industry solution, Proddia Aero, operates as a structural health management (SHM) system for military helicopters, UAVs, and fixed-wing aircraft.

Solutions for military aircraft condition and performance monitoring

Proddia Aero is an integrated SHM solution that supplies key information to decision-makers on the structural condition of military aircraft.

The system combines model and experimental data through a patented technology and uses sensors to accurately diagnose the structural status of the aircraft. It is compatible with a wide range of existing sensor technologies and data acquisition systems.

Users are able to monitor both complex composite and metallic structures and locate failure modes, such as deformations, delaminations, debondings, and cracks.

Technology to analyse the structural integrity of military aircraft

Proddia Aero provides in-service visibility of structural integrity at fleet, system and component level, helping to cut operations and maintenance (O&M) costs and increasing the availability of aircraft.

The solution also offers operational loads monitoring and damage tolerance analysis for in-service aircraft, making it one of the most advanced SHM platforms available on the market.

Augmented reality technology for military vehicle maintenance

The mobile version of Proddia Aero features state-of-the-art augmented reality (AR) technology, which overlays diagnosis results during maintenance operations.

Project damage information is provided on specific components, helping to increase awareness on structural issues and assisting the operator in pinpointing damage with a high degree of accuracy.

Tools for advanced analysis of aircraft structural status

Proddia Aero 3.5 features additional benefits, including improved analysis features that make it easier for users to re-run algorithms on captured flight data with adjusted parameters. This enables more in-depth analysis and an enhanced insight into structural status.

A new rainflow cycle counting feature allows users to accurately estimate aircraft load counts and control its remaining useful life. The tool gives operators the opportunity to explore flight structural data and check in detail where most loads are observed.

Solutions to support military aircraft life extension programmes

Proddia Aero 3.5 also benefits from improved damage detection methods and enhanced support for operational loads monitoring (OLM) and damage tolerance analysis (DTA).

Enhanced OLM and DTA support means Proddia 3.5 is the ideal choice to support aircraft life extension or role change programmes. The enhanced architecture is compatible with several OLM inputs, including accelerometers, strain gauges and flight data, with the capability of applying advanced algorithms across the data stream.

Additional DTA features facilitate the analysis of a single hyper-instrumented asset as a reference for fleet wide analysis.

Advanced structural health monitoring systems for challenging structures

In addition to Stratosphere’s Proddia Aero solution for the defence industry, the company offers innovative structural health monitoring solutions for a range of other industries, including the offshore and energy sectors.

Proddia IS has been specially designed for use with complex structures in offshore installations, rail infrastructure, and processing plant applications. It is the most efficient way to monitor the condition of complicated structures, including transmission towers and oil rigs.

Stratosphere also manufactures a solution dedicated to the structural health monitoring of onshore and offshore wind turbines. The Proddia W offers comprehensive monitoring and analysis of critical turbine components, including blades, foundations and towers.