Tamper indicating and sensing optical-based smart structures

This paper has presented an overview of the type of optical-based structures that can be designed and constructed. These smart structures are capable of responding to their environment. The examples given represent a modest sampling of the complexity that can be achieved in both design and practice. Tamper-indicating containers and smart, sensing windows demonstrate just a few of the applications. We have shown that optical-based smart structures can be made multifunctional with the sensing built in. The next generation smart structure will combine the sensing functionality of these optical-based smart structures with other sensors such as piezoelectrics and electro-rheological fluids to not only be able to respond to the environment, but to adapt to it as well. An example of functionality in this regime would be a piezosensor that senses pressure changes (e.g., shock waves), which then causes an electro-rheological fluid to change viscosity. A fiber sensor located in or near the electro-rheological fluid senses the stiffness change and sends a signal through a feedback loop back to the piezosensor for additional adjustments to the electro-rheological fluid.