At the 2025 Paris Air Show, NLR (Royal Netherlands Aerospace Centre) and PhotonFirst announced their partnership to develop a next-generation Structural Health and Usage Monitoring System (SHUMS) for helicopters. This innovation brings real-time flight monitoring of structural loads and fatigue to the forefront of aerospace technology.
Unexpected breakdowns and expensive repairs remain a persistent challenge for helicopter operators, impacting mission readiness and safety. Predictive maintenance, enabled by accurate structural monitoring, provides a proactive approach to mitigating these risks—improving efficiency, reducing downtime, and lowering maintenance costs. The precision of load measurements is key to accurately forecasting structural condition.
PhotonFirst is launching a new fiber sensing interrogator certified for aerospace use at the Paris Air Show. Engineered to operate in extreme environments, this system—utilizing optical fiber sensors and photonic chips—is scheduled for certification on the NH90 helicopter in July. This milestone signifies a major step in integrating fiber optic sensing into aviation platforms.
In close collaboration, NLR and PhotonFirst are developing this technology into a fully operational SHUMS solution, with the goal of making it widely available across the helicopter industry and potentially other aviation sectors. This partnership is shaping the future of real-time structural monitoring, enhancing predictive maintenance capabilities and ensuring greater operational readiness.
