This paper presents a new technology that holds promise for use in idealized "futuristic" systems for in-situ corrosion detection and remediation. New technologies are needed as recent studies show the U.S. Government spends up to $125B per year to detect, protect, and repair damage caused by corrosion. This article is a report on how the US Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) has initiated several Health Usage Monitoring (HUM) and Sentient Health Management (SHM) programs to study and combat chemical corrosion. Because of the corrosive nature of the naval environment, NAVAIR is pursuing new ways to pro-actively detect, prevent, eliminate, and deal with corrosion. In mid-1999, PMA 299, the NAVAIR H60 helicopter program office, funded a feasibility experiment for the development and testing of smart prognostic (Sentient) sensors for HUM and PHM. The Sentients are members of new generation of networked and autonomous reactive sensory
computers enabled by microcomputer technologies. The US Navy is investigating the use of Sentients as a new approach to a variety of issues. Sentient devices operate throughout the time between
maintenance. Sentients incorporate features for reasoning information gained by combining data from multiple sensors with fuzzy logic and rule based algorithms. Sentients are a first step to having the system be a first line of defense against corrosion.