Embedded Sensors for High-Performance Composites in Aviation, Space, and Defence
Making Composites Lighter, Stronger, Safer — More Reliable, Maintainable, and Mission-Ready
As the strategic demands on modern defence systems intensify, the materials used to build next-generation platforms are under scrutiny. The goal is clear: reduce weight, increase strength, and extend mission reliability, all without sacrificing maintainability or operational capability. Composite materials are playing a pivotal role in addressing the challenge—and at the heart of this transformation lies smart sensing technology. RVmagnetics is leading the charge with the contactless MicroWire sensors, revolutionizing how military and aerospace platforms are designed, built, and maintained.
RVmagnetics: A Dual-Use Defence Innovation Powerhouse
At RVmagnetics, we recognize the imperative of dual-use innovation—technology that seamlessly spans both civilian and military applications. Our magnetic MicroWire sensors, proven in aviation, automotive, and industrial manufacturing sectors, are now being tailored to meet the robust and mission-critical demands of the defence world.
By transferring our success from civilian aviation and industrial use into Defence & Space, we’re bridging the gap between concept and combat-readiness. This includes ensuring that defence-grade composites with embedded sensing not only survive but excel in the harshest conditions—from nuclear zones and hypersonic flight to the crushing depths of underwater vessels.
Our vision? To deliver critical capabilities to NATO-aligned Ministries of Defence (MoDs), prime contractors, and subcontractors, supporting them to build lighter, stronger, smarter, and safer platforms—across air, land, sea, and space.
What Composites Are Used in Aviation?
Aviation platforms increasingly rely on high-performance composites—primarily carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP), glass fiber composites, and aramid fibers—to achieve critical weight-to-strength advantages. These materials are selected not only for their mechanical resilience but also for their thermal stability, fatigue resistance, and ability to withstand dynamic loading profiles typical in aerospace missions. Carbon fiber, in particular, dominates structural applications such as fuselage panels, control surfaces, and UAV airframes due to its high stiffness-to-weight ratio and dimensional stability. In advanced defence aviation systems, composites are often tailored for specific operational theatres—whether extreme heat near engine nacelles or cryogenic temperatures in high-altitude reconnaissance. When embedded with smart sensors, these materials transcend passive performance and become active components of the aircraft’s diagnostic architecture. This integration enables real-time structural health monitoring, unlocking new levels of mission assurance, predictive maintenance, and platform longevity across both manned and unmanned systems.
Technical Challenge: The Harsh Realities of Defence Composites
While composite materials have become commonplace in civilian aviation and automotive industries, defence environments pose radically different challenges:
🛡️ Elevated Operational Demands:
- Extreme temperature variation from cryogenic –269°C (space, high-altitude reconnaissance, nuclear environments) up to temperature exceeding 1000°C (hypersonic missiles and similar applications)
- High vibration and stress profiles typical in missile frames, supersonic aircraft, and launchers
- Exposure to ionizing radiation, particularly in nuclear scenarios or space-based assets (LEO-MEO-HEO satellites) or nuclear submarines etc.
⚠️ Persistent Structural Risks:
- Microcracks, delamination, and internal fatigue are often undetectable until catastrophic failure—especially without real-time structural health monitoring (SHM)
- Traditional NDT methods like ultrasonic or visual inspections are ineffective in real-time applications
- FBG (Fiber Bragg Grating) systems, the conventional sensing solution, require fragile optical fibers and complex interrogation units, often leading to 30% material strength loss
RVmagnetics’ solution addresses these challenges head-on. Our MicroWire sensors are ultra-miniaturized (down to 8 µm) and can be embedded between individual carbon, glass or any other fibers without compromising material strength, unlocking real-time insights across the full lifecycle of defence platforms.
Technological Leadership: Replacing the Legacy Sensing Standard
FBG-based sensors have long been considered the industry standard—but as good as they are, the standards are now higher, especially for high-performance materials. RVmagnetics is building the next industrial sensing standard, offering:
- Full-spectrum temperature range sensing: from –269°C (cryogenic tanks, LEO spacecraft) up to 500°C (combustion chambers, missile casings)
- Ionizing radiation resistance for applications in nuclear early warning systems, battlefield situational awareness, and space environments
- Simple interrogation electronics, drastically reducing system complexity, power consumption, and cost
- MicroWire integration has very limited or no impact on the structural integrity of composite materials
This combination makes our solution ideal for airframes, UAV structures, pressure tanks (helium, N₂), ballistic components, and launch vehicles. It’s not just sensing—it’s strategic enhancement.
Applications Across the Entire Defence Ecosystem
✈️ Aerospace and Space Systems
- Sensorized composite airframes for military aircraft and drones
- Monitoring LEO-MEO-HEO satellite structures against microfractures and thermal stress
- Tracking missile airframes and launchers during high-G launch events
- Monitoring pressurised fuel and propulsion vessels and systems
- Enhancing cryogenic systems used in space propulsion
🚢 Naval and Subsurface Operations
- Rust-resistant, high-integrity panels for naval vessels
- Real-time monitoring of submarine hulls and underwater UAVs
- Internal monitoring of welded composite structures
🚜 Land-Based Vehicles and Armor
- Lightweight structural components for armored vehicles, mobile artillery, and troop transport
- Ballistic protection panels and smart armor with embedded SHM
- Electric motors and powertrain systems for hybrid combat platforms
🛰️ ISR and Force Protection Technologies
- Embedded sensing in early warning systems for nuclear or kinetic threats
- Predictive diagnostics in ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance) platforms
- Structural monitoring in antenna systems, sensor pods, and supply chain traceability ID tags
Transforming Composites into Smart, Mission-Ready Structures
When RVmagnetics’ technology is integrated into fibre-reinforced composite systems, it brings profound benefits:
- Lightweight advantage → as integration of the sensor does not cause the loss of material strength – allows for higher payload, longer operational range
- Real-time diagnostics → Enhanced safety, reduced downtime, predictive maintenance
- Cost-efficiency → Lower MRO (maintenance, repair, overhaul) costs, up to 50% structure savings
- Platform longevity → Early identification of defects prevents mission failure
- Enhanced stealth → Sensor integration does not compromise radar-absorbing properties
Our sensors are application-agnostic and compatible with all major composite manufacturing methods and their Typical Defence Use:
- Autoclave (Prepreg) → Aircraft, radomes, missiles
- RTM / VARTM → Armor panels, UAVs, naval components
- Filament Winding → Pressure tanks, rocket casings
- Compression Molding → Helmets, armor inserts, ballistic panels
- Hand Lay-Up + Vacuum → UAV frames, structural prototypes
- Pultrusion → Long rail structures, antennas
- 3D Printing (Emerging) → Rapid prototyping, complex sensorized parts
Smart Composites and Sensors: Driving a 20% Growth Surge in SHM
As of 2024, the global defence composites market is valued at $37 billion, growing at a CAGR of 11.7%. Based on regional market shares, approximately 60% of the $37B global defence composites market—around $22.2 billion—is concentrated in NATO countries, primarily driven by North America (40%) and Europe (20%). This reflects NATO’s strong industrial and defence infrastructure, making it a key arena for advanced composite technologies.
The defence composites market is dominated by carbon fiber (45%), followed by glass fiber (30%) and aramid fiber (15%), highlighting a strong industry preference for materials offering high strength-to-weight ratios and advanced performance characteristics.
The primary applications for defence composites are military aircraft (35%), land systems (25%), and UAVs (20%), with naval vessels (15%) and weapon systems (5%) making up the remainder—underscoring a clear focus on air and ground mobility platforms in defence modernization efforts.
Military Sensors Market (not only limited to composties) is valued at approximately $13 billion in 2025 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.9% from 2025 to 2030. This market encompasses various sensor types.
Space Sensors and Actuators Market: In 2024, the space sensors and actuators market was valued at $3 billion, with projections indicating a CAGR of 14.2% from 2025 to 2034. This growth is driven by increasing investments in space exploration and defense-related space technologies.
The sensor market within the composite industry alone —encompassing pressure, temperature (USD 3.2 billion), and non-destructive testing (NDT) (USD 1.35 billion) applications—is experiencing notable growth, driven by the increasing demand for real-time monitoring, predictive maintenance, and quality assurance in sectors such as aerospace, automotive, defence and industrial manufacturing.
Despite sensing in general is a conservative industry with long term CAGR of 4–7% – Structural health monitoring (SHM) of composites – on contrary – with a market size of approx $3.68 billion in 2024 is projected to grow at a CAGR of 19.2%. Today 75% of the market is linked to FBG sensors.
With accelerating adoption of smart composite structures, RVmagnetics stands poised to lead the Defence & Space digital transformation.
Bridging the Gap for Defence Clients
We recognize the hurdles defence contractors face in adopting new sensing technologies. Our ongoing R&D roadmap focuses on solving these pain points:
- MicroWire sensor development down to 8µm—small enough to embed directly between carbon fibers without compromising material strength
- Testing under extreme cryogenic conditions, including 4K (liquid helium) and 77K (liquid hydrogen) to support next-generation space applications
- Sensing in ionizing radiation environments (LEO-MEO-HEO satellite missions, nuclear systems)
- Monitoring weld lines using inductive, conductive, and ultrasonic techniques—enabling safer composite welding
- High-temperature operation, proven up to 500°C inhouse
With this capability, we help clients de-risk adoption and transition confidently from prototype to deployment, aligning with NATO standards and evolving needs in next-generation defence tech.
🧠 Read more about our technical breakthroughs here:
Building on a Legacy of European Defence Excellence
RVmagnetics' leadership in advanced sensor technologies for defence applications is not just rooted in innovation—it's built on decades of experience in European-funded defence research. Notably, two of our key scientists, Prof. Rastislav Varga and Dr. Pavol Lipovský, played instrumental roles in the SESAMO project (Sensors for Structural Monitoring), a landmark initiative funded by the European Defence Agency (EDA) during 2010–2012. The project, which brought together major European defence and aerospace players—including MBDA Italy, Mahytec, AvioSpace—focused on the development of innovative sensor solutions for structural health monitoring (SHM) of critical defence assets. Apart from MicroWire sensors, project also worked with Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) and optical sensors designed for dense, real-time instrumentation of complex structures.
Importantly, RVmagnetics is now the know-how holder of the project’s technological results, providing a strong foundation for our current roadmap and accelerating our mission to deliver military-grade sensors for next-generation composite structures. This continuity ensures that we don’t just follow technological trends—we lead them, with a legacy of trust and contribution to European defence innovation.
🔍 Further Reading on SESAMO project:
Key findings are summarised in the article Prof. Varga and the team published in IEEE “Possibilities of Measuring Stress and Health Monitoring in Materials Using Contact-Less Sensor Based on Magnetic Microwires .{target:_blank; title:link}":https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/…ment/6392407
The RVmagnetics Mission: Define the Future, Don’t Follow It
As global security challenges demand more robust, responsive, and intelligent materials, we at RVmagnetics remain focused on one goal: To become the new industrial standard for embedded sensing in high-performance composites across all manufacturing methods, while simultaneously accelerating the broader adoption of composite frames and components through our own technological leadership. We're not just adding sensors—we’re redefining materials. Enabling commanders, engineers, and operators to trust their platforms in the most demanding environments—from the arctic to orbit, from desert battlefields to nuclear command centers.
Let’s Collaborate
If you're a defence contractor, system integrator, or a governmental stakeholder seeking to enhance platform survivability, system performance, and mission assurance, we want to work with you.
📩 Contact RVmagnetics to explore:
- Integration into your next-generation UAV or LEO satellite;
- Embedding sensors in ballistic panels or electric motors;
- Smart supply chain traceability using ID MicroWires;
- Monitoring of additively manufactured defence components.
Let’s make defence systems smarter together. Because the battlefield of today already demands it.
