Preface

Abstract

Industry and researchers need to be made more aware of thepotential of smart technology. Since its initiation some 20years ago, significant changes have occurred both in thematerials issues and the psychology of how interdisciplinaryresearch, which is at the heart of smart technology, can accelerate new ideas and bring them to a positive end result. The ever-increasing demands on product life extension, reliability andexploitability of components, materials and structures offerexcellent opportunities for smart technologies, mapping all thekey industries in aerospace, civil and electrical engineering,transportation, manufacturing, communications, defence, medicineand even in fashion and design.In the aerospace sector, the advent of the ultra-reliableaircraft is planned for the short term and current thinking istowards a holistic approach to aerospace technologyopportunities. This will certainly take advantage of the newconcepts in smart materials and structures, from MEMS andwireless communications to functional materials.This special issue contains papers covering the design,optimization and applications of smart materials and structures,recent developments in MEMs, damage detection and structuralhealth monitoring using passive/active methods, piezoelectricand electromagnetic actuation and control and active/passivedamping.There is a move to a design philosophy which is directed towardsthe integration of sensors, actuators, processors andcontrollers into systems which have the capability to adapt andthis is directing research in a more inter/multidisciplinarymanner; this is what smart technology is all about. This special issue reflects the key thinking in smart technologies andthe papers are based on presentations made at the SmartMaterials and Structures 4th European and 2nd MIMR Conference,Harrogate, UK in July 1998, which in turn reflected thestate-of-the-art at that time. Smart technologies is a rapidly evolving area and this special issue is a reminder of theadvancement made in this exciting field.