During the 2025 Paris Air Show, the Royal Netherlands Aerospace Centre (NLR) and PhotonFirst unveiled their collaborative effort to develop a cutting-edge Structural Health and Usage Monitoring System (SHUMS) tailored for helicopters. This breakthrough will significantly enhance real-time structural load and fatigue monitoring during flight.
For helicopter operators, unplanned maintenance and costly repairs can severely disrupt operations and compromise safety. Predictive maintenance, made possible through advanced monitoring, mitigates these risks by detecting potential issues early—reducing downtime, costs, and safety concerns. Improved accuracy in load measurements offers better insights into aircraft condition.
PhotonFirst will debut a new aerospace-qualified fiber sensing interrogator at the event, built to function reliably under harsh conditions. The system, which utilizes fiber optic sensors and integrated photonic technology, is expected to receive certification for use on the NH90 helicopter this July, marking an important step in aviation’s adoption of fiber sensing.
NLR and PhotonFirst are now working to transform this technology into a fully integrated SHUMS solution for broad adoption across helicopter platforms. Their partnership sets a new benchmark in real-time structural health monitoring, supporting safer, more efficient, and predictive maintenance strategies.
