%0 Journal Article
%@ 1013-9826
%A Güemes Gordo, Jesús Alfredo
%A Sierra Pérez, Julian
%A Rodellar, J.
%A Mujica, Luis Eduardo
%D 2013
%F upm:22352
%I Trans Tech Publications
%J Key Engineering Materials
%K Principal component Analysis, fiber optic sensors.
%P 128-138
%T A robust procedure for damage detection from strain measurements based on principal component analysis
%U http://oa.upm.es/22352/
%V 558
%X FBGs are excellent strain sensors, because of its low size and multiplexing capability. Tens to hundred of sensors may be embedded into a structure, as it has already been demonstrated. Nevertheless, they only afford strain measurements at local points, so unless the damage affects the strain readings in a distinguishable manner, damage will go undetected. This paper show the experimental results obtained on the wing of a UAV, instrumented with 32 FBGs, before and after small damages were introduced. The PCA algorithm was able to distinguish the damage cases, even for small cracks. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is a technique of multivariable analysis to reduce a complex data set to a lower dimension and reveal some hidden patterns that underlie.