PhotonFirst, a leading innovator in Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensing technology and integrated photonics, and Curtiss-Wright, a global market leader in Flight Test Instrumentation (FTI) solutions, today announced a collaboration to accelerate the adoption of fiber optic sensing technology within the aerospace flight test domain.
The collaboration combines PhotonFirst’s advanced integrated photonics-based FBG interrogator technology with Curtiss-Wright’s extensive expertise and market position in aerospace and defense FTI systems. As part of the collaboration, PhotonFirst’s FBG sensing products will be further adapted and optimized for use within Curtiss-Wright’s FTI environments and architectures.
Fiber Optic Sensing offers several key advantages over conventional electrical sensing technologies for aerospace applications. These include significant reductions in weight, size and complexity, immunity to electromagnetic interference (EMI), high multiplexing capability, and the ability to perform highly accurate real-time measurements of strain, temperature, vibration, and structural health in harsh operating environments.
As the aerospace industry continues to focus on structural health monitoring, predictive maintenance and overall platform efficiency, both companies expect market demand for FBG-based sensing solutions to grow rapidly in the coming years. The combination of integrated photonics and proven FTI expertise is expected to help enable scalable deployment of fiber optic sensing technology across current and future aerospace platforms.
“Fiber optic sensing is increasingly recognized as a key enabling technology for next-generation aerospace platforms with a growing need for high-quality data,” said Leendert-Jan Nijstad, CEO at PhotonFirst. “By combining our integrated photonics based sensing technology with Curtiss-Wright’s deep expertise in flight test instrumentation, we believe we can significantly accelerate adoption of fiber optic sensing within the aerospace market.”
“Aircraft manufacturers and defense customers are continuously looking for solutions that reduce weight, improve reliability, and increase the amount of actionable data available during testing and operation,” said Aidan Darmody, Site Lead, Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions. “We see strong potential for FBG technology to become an important part of future FTI architectures.”
Further details regarding the collaboration and future developments will be shared at a later stage.
PhotonFirst is a Dutch deep-tech company specializing in integrated photonics-based fiber optic sensing solutions for demanding aerospace, defense, industrial and high-tech applications. Its technology enables accurate measurement of strain, temperature, vibration and structural behavior in harsh environments.
For more information contact Jacco Overdulve – jacco.overdulve@photonfirst.com - +31 6 1310 4117
Curtiss-Wright is a global integrated business that provides highly engineered products, solutions and services mainly to Aerospace & Defense markets, as well as critical technologies in demanding commercial power, process and industrial markets.