Measuring system for determining shape, deformations and/or changes in orientation of a measurement object

A method of determining a shape, deformations and/or change in orientation of a measurement object, the method comprising the steps of:

• providing a measuring system;
• distributing and attaching the sensor probes as a network of sensor probes on a surface of the measurement object;
• determining the position and orientation of the sensor probes by evaluating the measurement signals provided by the sensor devices;
• determining a shape, deformation and/or change in orientation of the measurement object based on the determined positions and orientations of the sensor probes.

A measuring system for determining shape, deformations and/or change in orientation of a measurement object, the measuring system comprising:

• a plurality of sensor probes attached in a distributed manner on a surface of the measurement object in a predefined orientation relative to a surface normal of the surface of the measurement object at the location of the respective sensor probe, so that a deformation and/or change in orientation of the measurement object causes a change of the position and/or orientation of one or more of the sensor probes;
• wherein each of the sensor probes comprises a fastening device for releasably attaching the sensor probe to the surface of the measurement object and the sensor probes each include an energy source for self-powered operation;
• each of the distributed sensor probes is directly coupled to one or more neighboring sensor probes, wherein a plurality of the sensor probes are directly coupled to at least two neighboring sensor probes, thereby forming a two-dimensional sensor probe network, wherein for the direct coupling of two sensor probes, one or more mechanical links are used such that the sensor probes and the mechanical links form the sensor probe network, wherein the sensor probes define nodes of the sensor probe network, the mechanical links being supported on the sensor probes by bearings;
• wherein sensor devices are assigned to each of the sensor probes to detect:
• the orientation of the surface normal of the surface of the measurement object at the location of the respective sensor probe relative to a predetermined reference axis, and
• the orientation of each of the one or more of the mechanical links coupled to the respective sensor probe relative to said surface normal of the surface of the measurement object at the location of the respective sensor probe or said predetermined reference axis, and
• wherein an analysis unit is provided which is configured to receive and evaluate measurement signals from the sensor devices, the analysis unit being configured to determine the position and orientation of each of the sensor probes from the received measurement signals.