SUMMARY

Electrical systems have become ubiquitous, and with them come the need to accurately monitor electric current. The aerospace industry is no exception. Modern aircraft may contain more than one hundred current sensors, each one critical to proper functioning. While these sensors function acceptably, several areas have been identified for improvement: size, weight, and cost. Each sensor is bulky, taking up valuable space. They are also costly to manufacture. The existing design is based on the Hall Effect, and has not been revised for nearly half a century. With the recent progress in materials and manufacturing techniques, it would be beneficial to reexamine these sensors and determine if improvements can be made using the accomplishments of the last few decades. Of particular interest are advanced materials, some of which can behave as transducers, linking different physical phenomenon. Other types of advanced materials include those that have been altered at the micro or nano scale to design a material that behaves in a specified manner. Also of interest are microelectromechanical systems, also known as MEMS. Using a sensor based on MEMS technology in which design, function, and fabrication are closely intertwined would automatically meet two of the three goals: reducing size and weight. MEMS also have the potential to allow existing systems to be miniaturized. The goal of this dissertation is to use advances in materials and manufacturing techniques, specifically those discussed above, to design a better current sensor. As part of this goal, an improved numerical model of a selected advanced material will be generated. This model will be used for optimizing the materials for the application at hand. Additionally, a proof-of-concept prototype will be fabricated and tested to validate the feasibility of the design.