• An integrated diagnostic AI solution, known as the “KAIST Structural Doctor”, has been developed for automatic structural diagnosis.

• The KAIST Structural Doctor has multiple data science diagnostic capabilities, supporting the inspection of thin functional composite structures and thick (up to ~30 mm) metallic structures.

• It has become an indispensable part of modern NDT, maintaining high diagnostic accuracy and reliability, while ensuring high throughput.

• It is shaping the future of NDT through the establishment of PoD (probability of detection) and industrial standards.

• Invented in 2008, first in the world

• Fast and long range laser ultrasonic scanning

• Simultaneous multi-area scanning

• Fast signal processing for the big data

• Ultrasonic waves are generated when a pulsed laser momentarily heats up a small spot on a solid surface.

• The ultrasonic waves travel away from the heating spot and can be measured at the opposite surface or on the same surface.

• When measured at the opposite surface, it is called the through-transmission mode.

• When measured at the same surface due to reflection, it is called the pulse-echo mode.

• Sometimes, the ultrasonic waves travel far along the thin shell of aerospace structures before being measured, and it is called the guided mode.

• Regardless of the mode, internal damage can be detected because the waves’ properties are altered through waves-damage interactions.

Mobile PE UPI system aims to provide mobility by compact size as well as high-resolution inspection result.

• Fully noncontact nondestructive inspection system using generation and sensing lasers as an in-situ NDE tool

• Inspection for through-the-thickness defects such as delamination and disband

• Pulse-echo ultrasonic wave propagation imaging (PE UWPI) for damage visualization

Nondestructive damage inspection system using laser ultrasonic wave propagation and PZT sensors

• High speed (Max. 20 kHz pulse repetition rate)

• Distance: over 100 m

• Visualize ultrasonic wave propagation

• Combine with wireless network

• This Rotational Through-Transmission (TT and Pulse-Echo (PE) Laser Ultrasonic Propagation Imaging (Rotational T/PUPI) system is designed for full-field non-destructive testing (NDT) of Type-3 composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs) used in launch vehicles. It performs precise diagnostics to detect manufacturing and artificial defects. Additionally, it evaluates defect growth before and after cryogenic pressurization cycle tests.

• This rotational pulse-echo laser ultrasonic propagation imaging (R-PUPI) system is designed to identify manufacturing defects and assess the reusability of large composite solid fuel combustion chambers in hybrid rockets. It is capable of inspecting a width of up to 2.0 m in a single scan. By mapping the acquired ultrasonic signals onto 2D and 3D domains, the system effectively detects flaws and damage in large cylindrical composite structures fabricated via the filament winding process.

• Robotic pulse-echo ultrasonic propagation imaging (PUPI) system enables laser ultrasonic testing for the inspection of complex-shaped composite structures with various curvatures. The system is designed to automatically generate inspection paths and detect defects based on 3D geometry data extracted from the inspection target.

• Integrating PUPI technology with a mobile rover platform, this system provides autonomous mobile structural health evaluation. The research focuses on conducting wave propagation imaging-based damage detection across large aerospace components, composite structures, and restricted industrial environments, aiming for high-precision non-destructive testing without area limitations.

• This system features a hybrid SHM system integrating Wireless Ultrasonic Devices (WUD) and Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors to monitor aircraft structural health and detect external impacts and internal damage in real time.

• Additionally, it ensures comprehensive structural integrity through PUPI system.

• Installed inside the aircraft, the Wireless Ultrasonic Device (WUD) monitors structural health in real time using a PZT sensor network and wireless communication. Key features include 6-channel simultaneous measurement, wireless data transmission, and an ultra-lightweight design of 40" g"(70×70×15" mm"), ensuring seamless integration into aircraft structures.

• Serial-connected three PZT sensors in fuselage

• Surface crack detection from a distance (NDE)

• Impact localization using pre-trained UPI data (SHM)

• A technology that measures radar cross section on site without dedicated facilities, using near-field data acquired by a mobile robot circling the target to assess stealth performance.

• This system enables real-time measurement of 3D antenna radiation patterns in an anechoic chamber.

• A 3D lattice structure is required to achieve broadband and wide-angle electromagnetic wave absorption. Therefore, 3D printing was employed to efficiently design and fabricate the complex and repetitive structure of the radar absorbing structure

• The MAI laboratory has built an anechoic chamber for near-field RCS measurement and obtains far-field RCS through near-field to far-field transformation (NFFFT). It is also capable of measuring the dynamic RCS produced by rotary-wing aircraft.

• Our free-space measurement facility includes a furnace for analyzing the electromagnetic properties of specimens at high temperatures, measurement setups based on two- and three-axis linear stages, and a robotic-arm-based system for precisely evaluating the electromagnetic properties of curved specimens.

• This system is a space threat environment simulation chamber designed to reproduce, in a combined and accelerated manner, the thermal cycling, ultraviolet radiation, vacuum, and atomic oxygen environments to which satellite materials and electronic components are exposed in their mission orbits. The vacuum chamber, 500 mm in diameter and 300 mm in height, achieves a high vacuum of approximately 5.0×10⁻⁵ Torr, and implements thermal cycling over a range of −125 to +125 °C via a copper cooling plate and halogen lamps under PLC-based automatic control. In addition, UV-C lamps (200–280 nm) and an RF plasma generator (~5 eV atomic oxygen, 6.4×10¹⁵ atoms·cm⁻²·s⁻¹) enable combined environment testing of all four factors

• This system is an electron-beam vacuum chamber designed to evaluate the surface charging, internal charging, and electrostatic discharge (ESD) characteristics of satellite electronic components by reproducing, in an accelerated manner, the high-energy electron and high-vacuum environments that satellites encounter while passing through the polar regions and the Van Allen belts. The vacuum chamber, 500 mm in diameter and 300 mm in height, achieves a high vacuum of approximately 5.0×10⁻⁷ Torr, and a Kimball EGF-3104 electron gun generates an electron flux of 4.4×10¹³ electrons·cm⁻²·s⁻¹ at up to 20 keV and 100 μA. In addition, the emission, focusing, and irradiation path of the electron beam can be controlled by means of the cathode, Wehnelt cylinder, anode, and deflection coils.

• This system is an integrated space hazard simulation chamber developed to simultaneously reproduce, in a ground-based facility, the five major space threat factors: thermal cycling, ultraviolet (UV) radiation, high vacuum, high-energy electron radiation, and atomic oxygen (AO). Designed to evaluate the durability and reliability of satellite materials and electronic components under harsh orbital mission environments, it enables comprehensive, accelerated multi-factor environmental testing driven by dedicated simulation profile calculation software.

• This program is a MATLAB App-based space environment profiling software designed to quantify the five major space threat environments—thermal cycling, ultraviolet radiation, vacuum, atomic oxygen, and electrons—over the VLEO-to-GEO altitude range, based on user-defined satellite orbit and attitude conditions and material properties, and to convert them into ground simulation test conditions. Using an altitude-dependent space threat environment database and two-body orbit propagation analysis, the program calculates and visualizes heat flux and temperature variation, pressure, atomic oxygen flux and fluence, and electron exposure and charging conditions, and outputs the chamber settings and exposure durations corresponding to the user-specified mission lifetime as a test profile.

• This system is an AI-assisted inspection system that detects and segments damage on high-pressure compressor blades inside aircraft engines in real time from videoscope images. It performs the entire process from videoscope image input to damage detection, segmentation, and display of the inspection results.