AIRCRAFT FLIGHT TESTING TECHNIQUES AND INSTRUMENTATION

THE NORTH AMERICAN AEROSPACE CORPORATION AIR FLOW ANALYZER (AFA) MEASURES BOUNDARY-LAYERED TRANSITIONS AND PRESSURE LINES ASSOCIATED WITH LAMINAR, TRANSITION, AND TURBULENT AIR FLOWS ASSOCIATED WITH AIRFOIL, ROTOR BLADE, AND PROPELLER SURFACES. THE AFA HAS TWO DISTINCT ADVANTAGES OVER EXISTING FLOW ANALYSIS TOOLS. FIRST, IT PROVIDES DATA FROM THOUSANDS OF SENSE POINTS; SECOND, IT DOES NOT INTERFERE WITH THE NATURAL LAMINAR FLOW (NLF) OF THE AIRFOILSURFACES. THE AFA ADDRESSES NASA REQUIREMENTS FOR AIRCRAFT FLIGHT TESTING TECHNIQUES AND INSTRUMENTATION (SUBTOPIC 03.07) FOR SENSING AND ANALYZING PRESSURE AND AIR FLOW CHARACTERISTICS. IN ADDITION, THE LIGHT WEIGHT OF THE SYSTEM SHOULD MAKE IT READILY ADAPTABLE TO A VARIETY OF IN-FLIGHT TESTS. GRAPHIC DISPLAY OF SOFTWARE WILL PROVIDE DATA VISUALIZATION THROUGH A NUMBER OF PLOTS, GRAPHS, AND ANIMATIONS; ALSO, DATA WILL BE STORED IN A FORMAT SUITABLE FOR USE BY A COMPUTER MODELING PROGRAM. THE SYSTEM DESCRIBED IN THIS PROPOSAL IS APPLICABLE TO SEVERAL OTHER SUBTOPICS IN THE NASA SBIR PROGRAM SOLICITATION. THESE SUBTOPICS INCLUDE, BUT ARE NOT NECESSARILY LIMITED TO, SUBTOPIC 02.01, COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS; SUBTOPIC 02.02, EXPERIMENTAL FLUID DYNAMICS; AND SUBTOPIC 02.10, ROTORCRAFT AERODYNAMICS AND DYNAMICS.