Patent ID: 8869309

Claim:
A conformal coating having information embedded therein, the coating comprising: an insulating layer disposed on a component; an active layer including a switched network having a plurality of nodes controlled by a master device controller (MDC); wherein a node on the switched network is configured to have dormant, active, and routed states such that said node, upon getting an activation command from the MDC, said node enters the active state, upon getting a signal routing command, said node enters the routed state, and upon getting a de-activation command from the MDC, said node enters the dormant state; wherein the node provides information about itself to the MDC via the switched network in the active state and transmits a signal from the MDC to a subsequent node along a routed signal path in the routed state; wherein the routing command causes an active node to connect to a subsequent node in said network, said subsequent node being identified in the routing command; and where the embedded information includes a measurable property of a node in a signal path in the network.