Patent ID: 8593163
Filing Date: 2013-11-26
Classification: G01R

Abstract:
1. A surface conforming obscured feature detector comprising: a plurality of sensor plates, flexibly connected together upon a flexible substrate that is conformable to curvature and/or irregularities of the a curved surface to be sensed, each sensor plate having a capacitance that varies based on: (a) the proximity of the sensor plate to one or more surrounding objects, and (b) the dielectric constant(s) of the surrounding object(s); a sensing circuit coupled to the sensor plates, the circuit being configured to measure the capacitances of the sensor plates; a controller coupled to the sensing circuit, the controller being configured to analyze the capacitances measured by the sensing circuit; one or a plurality of indicators coupled to the controller, each indicator capable of toggling between a deactivated state and an activated state, wherein the controller is configured to activate one or more of the indicators to identify a location of an obscured feature behind the curved surface.