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16 SMT Magazine • January 2015 F i b e r - r e i n f o r c e d plastic (FRP) is a com- monly used host struc- ture in SE, with carbon fiber increasingly used rather than glass fiber. For example, it is spun around the supports of failing Japanese bridg- es then set with sen- sors in resin as a form of "smart skin," so to speak. Among the fa- vourite processes will be printed electronics and lamination of thin flexible layers, often using in-mold elec- tronics which typically employs thermoplas- tics. Smart materials are increasingly used, with piezoelectrics be- ing popular among these. Evolution We can understand the evolution of struc- tural electronics in recent years and where it is going as shown in Figure 2. Smart Skin Smart skin is a much more powerful con- cept than at first seems to be the case, and in THE rISE Of STruCTuraL ELECTrOnICS continues Table 3: Benefits of structural electronics in different structures, materials and processes. Table 4: certain patterns emerge between applications. Feature