Contact Dr Edmon Chehura

Areas of expertise

  • Aerospace Manufacturing
  • Composites
  • Computing, Simulation & Modelling
  • Instrumentation, Sensors and Measurement Science
  • Renewable Energy
  • Sensor Technologies
  • Smart Materials
  • Structures and Materials

Background

Dr Edmond Chehura specialises in the theoretical modelling of sensor systems, in the development of practical experimentation, optical fibre grating sensors and devices, optical fibre interferometry, the development of optical instrumentation, the development of software, and in the deployment of sensor systems in industry.

He is a previous recipient of an Overseas Research Scholarship Award for his PhD, gained in 2003 at Cranfield University. He was awarded 1st prize bursary for his PhD research by Bristol Industrial Research Associates Ltd. Prior to joining Cranfield University, he gained a BSc Honours in Physics with a 1st class (University of Zimbabwe), obtained the Vice Chancellor's Award, and the Retrofit Prize (by Retrofit Ltd).

Edmond worked on the project 'Monitoring and modelling tools for the study of strain development in curing composites'', that was among a shortlist of 3 for the NPL Material Awards category of the National Measurement Awards (UK). Edmond is Co-author to REF 2014 impact case study submission: 'Optical fibre sensors: improved design of commercial superconducting magnets'. Oxford Instruments now exploits the technology in flagship commercial superconducting magnets used worldwide in high-field NMR and beam-line facilities.

He is recognised internationally in the development of fibre optic sensing systems for the process monitoring of advanced composites. He was an invited speaker to multiple international conferences in UK, France, Belgium, China, and Australia. Edmond is an invited international expert to review research grant proposals in the field of structural health monitoring of advanced composites for the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO, Belgium), an independent European Union funding agency. Edmond is a member of a global focus group created to facilitate the translation of the optical fibre sensor monitoring technology into real life implementation. Since 2020, he has been an Invited Reviewer for research grants submitted to the EPSRC. He is a reviewer of more than 16 international journals.

In 2015, he was invited by the CRC Press to contribute a book chapter in the book 'Structural Health Monitoring of Composite Structures Using Fiber Optic Methods'. Edmond is an Academic Editor for the SENSORS Journal (Hindawi), and he is a member of the technical program committee of the International Conference on Sensors Engineering and Electronics Instrumental Advances. Edmond is currently the Guest Editor leading a Special Issue on 'Fiber-Laser Sensor Systems Based on Fiber Grating Technology' for the open access SENSORS Journal (MDPI).

Current activities

Theoretical Modelling of Sensor Systems and Devices: design and performance characteristics

Optical Fibre Sensors: optical fibre grating sensors and their combinations, optical fibre interferometry, fibre lasers, fibre-optic laser Doppler velocimetry for flow measurement

Development of Optical Instrumentation: interrogators for the sensors, and fabrication of the sensors: fibre Bragg grating (FBG), tilted fibre Bragg grating (TFBG), chirped fibre Bragg grating (CFBG), phase-shifted fibre Bragg grating (PSFBG), sampled fibre Bragg grating (SFBG), low reflectivity fibre Bragg grating (LR FBG), all types of a long period grating (LPG); and combinations of grating devices to form interferometers

Advanced Composites Processing: real-time in-situ monitoring of manufacturing processes, and the subsequent structural health monitoring

Structural Health Monitoring: aerospace, civil and geotechnical engineering, automotive, superconducting magnets, etc.

Practical deployment of sensor systems within industrial plants across Europe

Development of software packages: automated data acquisition and signal processing systems

Recently completed work include: the 'End-to-End Equipment Health Management (E2E EHM)' project funded by Innovate UK and Rolls Royce, the 'BladeSense' project, funded by Airbus Helicopters (UK) and Innovate UK, and the 'Advanced Integrated Composite Tail Cone (ADVITAC)' research funded by the EU FP7.

Clients

Rolls Royce

Mercedes AMG F1

Airbus

Airbus Helicopters (UK)

GKN Aerospace

NLR

Daher Aerospace

Coriolis Composites

Oxford Instruments

Siemens Magnet Technology

Publications

Articles In Journals

Conference Papers

Books