Deane, ShakebAvdelidis, Nicolas PeterIbarra-Castanedo, ClementeZhang, HaiYazdani Nezhad, HamedWilliamson, Alex A.Mackley, TimDavis, Maxwell J.Maldague, Xavier P. V.Tsourdos, Antonios2019-02-212019-02-212019-02-13Deane, S, Avdelidis HP, Ibarra-Castanedo C, Zhang H, Yazdani Nezhad H, Williamson AA, Mackley T, Davis MJ, Maldague X and Tsourdos A., Application of NDT thermographic imaging of aerospace structures, Infrared Physics and Technology, Volume 97, March 2019, Pages 456-4661350-4495https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infrared.2019.02.002https://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/13927This work aims to address the effectiveness and challenges of Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) inspection and improve the detection of defects without causing damage to the material or operator. It focuses on two types of NDT methods; pulsed thermography and vibrothermography. The paper also explores the possibility of performing automated aerial inspection using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) provided with a thermographic imaging system. The concept of active thermography is discussed for inspecting aircraft CFRP panels along with the proposal for performing aerial inspection using the UAV for real time inspection. Static NDT results and the further UAV research indicate that the UAV inspection approach could significantly reduce the inspection time, cost, and workload, whilst potentially increasing the probability of detection.enAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalactive infrared thermographypulsed thermographyvibrothermographyUAVCompositekissing bondArticle22879760