Smart structures mimic biological systems by using thousands of sensors serving as\na nervous system analog. One approach to give structures this sensing ability is to develop a\nmultifunctional sensor network. Previous work has demonstrated stretchable sensor networks\nconsisting of temperature sensors and impact detectors for monitoring external environments and\ninteracting with other objects. The objective of this work is to develop distributed, robust and reliable\nstrain gauges for obtaining the strain distribution of a designated region on the target structure. Here,\nwe report a stretchable network that has 27 rosette strain gauges, 6 resistive temperature devices\nand 8 piezoelectric transducers symmetrically distributed over an area of 150 Ã? 150 mm to map\nand quantify multiple physical stimuli with a spatial resolution of 2.5 Ã? 2.5 mm. We performed\ncomputational modeling of the network stretching process to improve measurement accuracy and\nconducted experimental characterizations of the microfabricated strain gauges to verify their gauge\nfactor and temperature coefficient. Collectively, the results represent a robust and reliable sensing\nsystem that is able to generate a distributed strain profile of a common structure. The reported\nstrain gauge network may find a wide range of applications in morphing wings, smart buildings,\nautonomous cars and intelligent robots.
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