DEVELOPMENT OF SURFACE ACOUSTIC WAVE (SAW) ALTITUDE SENSOR

THERE IS A CONSTANT NEED FOR LESS COSTLY AIRCRAFT ALTITUDE SENSORS, FOR WHICH LARGE NUMBERS OF THESE SENSORS ARE REQUIRED. THE PROPOSED PROGRAM IS TO PERFORM STUDIES LEADING TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SURFACE ACOUSTIC WAVE (SAW) ALTITUDE SENSOR FOR AVIONICS AIR-DATA INSTRUMENTATION. THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED PROGRAM IS TO DEVELOP A HIGH PERFORMANCE ALTITUDE SENSOR WHICH WILL UTILIZE STATE-OF-THE ART SAW TECHNOLOGY. PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS SHOWS THAT SAW SENSOR HAS (1) A DYNAMIC RANGE OF 10(6), THUS GIVING AN ACCURACY OF +1 FEET IN 30,000 FEET, (2) THE ALTITUDE QUANTIZATION RATE OF 0.5 FT/HZ, AND (3) AN EQUIVALENT SAMPLERATE OF 60 KHZ (APPROXIMATELY 2(16) BITS/SEC.)