A.A. Lab Systems AN-1003 CTA Anemometry System - Hotwire and hotfilm measurements are taken through a 10-channel constant temperature anemometry system. Three units are available for a total of 30 channels. Each channel is low-noise at less than 0.4 nV/Hz^(1/2). The standard frequency response is DC-300kHz. A built-in signal conditioner allows for controllable gain, DC offset, and a noise filter. Each 10 channel mainframe is equipped with a high-current power supply to enable simultaneous operation of all 10 channels at high flow velocities.

Twenty of the 30 channels have recently been upgraded to accommodate extended (15 m) probe cables. The remaining 10 channels are limited to 5 m probe cables.

Dantec Anemometers - Two channels of Dantec Type 55M10 Constant Temperature Anemometer Standard Bridges (each housed in a Type 55M01 Main Unit) are available for hotwire measurements. A DISA Electronik Type 55D35 RMS Unit is available, which will return the RMS amplitude of fluctuations over a customizable integration time of 0.3 to 100 seconds.

Hot-Wires - Over 25 individual Dantec 5 μm tungsten-sensor hotwires of various dimensions and designs are available for use. In addition, the Flight Research Lab possess the necessary equipment and expertise to fabricate custom hotwire sensors in-house.

Tao Systems Senflex® Hotfilm Arrays - These anemometry sensor arrays are used for transition detection, spectral analysis, shear stress measurement, and more. Physically, they are flexible films that conform to the airfoil contour. The substrate is 0.002" thick Upilex S polyimide film, with a standard lead thickness of 0.0005" (1/2 mil) and a lead width of 0.030". Lead resistance is less than 0.05 ohms/in. Nickel sensors with a resistance of 6-10 ohms are vapor deposited onto the film substrate. Tao Systems offers a variety of array shapes and channel numbers. The hotfilms are attached to the airfoil with the MACtac® adhesive film product, MACfilm® IF-2043.

A variety of existing hotfilm arrays are available, including several Tao Systems Model 93021 arrays (pictured above), two mirrored 93021 arrays, and several custom designs. If necessary, the Flight Research Lab has experience working with Tao Systems to create custom designs tailored to an application of interest.

Merlin Mid InSb Mid-Wavelength Infrared Camera - From Indigo Systems Corporation (now a part of FLIR Systems), the Merlin-Mid is an Indium Antimonide detector with a 320x256 focal plane array. With the Stirling cooled filter stabilized at 77 K, the camera's spectral range is 3-5 μm. Standard temperature measurement ranges from 0 - 350°C with temperature differences as low as 0.025°C detectable. Accuracy of the reading is + 2°C. Three lenses are available for use: 25mm (22x16 °FOV), 50mm (11x8 °FOV), and 100mm (5.5x4.1 °FOV). Images are acquired at a maximum of 50 Hz.

FLIR ThermaCAM SC3000 IR Camera - The FLIR ThermaCAM SC3000 has a GaAs, Quantum Well Infrared Photodetector (320x240 pixels), which operates in the 8-9 μm spectral range. It is Stirling cooled down to 70K. The camera has a built in lens with a Field of View (FoV) of 20° x 15° and an attachable 60° lens. Temperature measurements range from -4°F - 2732°F, with an accuracy of + 1.8 °F (up to 302 °F). Atmospheric transmission corrections are automatic after entering distance, temperature and relative humidity. An emissivity correction is applied based on an emissivity input.

Kulite Pressure Transducers - A total of five ultra-miniature Kulite pressure transducers are available. Four of these are differential transducers with a ±5 psid range, and the fifth is a 100 psia model. The small size of the Kulite pressure transducers allow them to be placed very near to the measurement location with minimal flow influence. This minimization of tubing length, combined with the solid-state silicon transducer diaphragm design, allows for a very high frequency response (falloff/resonance beginning at 30+ kHz, depending on installation).

MKS Pressure Transducers - Dynamic pressure is measured using a 100 Torr (MKS 698A12TRA) temperature-compensated transducer. The transducer interfaces with a computer-controlled signal conditioner (MKS Type 670). A second 10 Torr transducer/signal conditioner is available for additional pressure measurements.

Static pressure is measured with a 1000 Torr (MKS 390HA) temperature-compensated transducer. This unit also interfaces with a computer-controlled signal conditioner (MKS Type 270B).

Honeywell FP2000 Pressure Transducers - Six Honeywell FP2000 Series pressure transducers are available:

The first four of the above are contained in a single compact enclosure and dedicated for use with the 24-inch Aeroprobe, to provide dynamic and static pressures, as well as the angles of sideslip and attack after a reduction procedure. The fifth and sixth transducers above are currently used for measurements of shear stress using a Preston tube on the swept-wing model in flight.

Pressure Systems DTCnet / ESP 64HD Pressure Scanner - The Pressure Systems scanner is a 64-channel system used for differential pressure measurements. Each transducer is individually calibrated and then connected to pressure ports in the test model using Tygon tubing. When calibrated properly, static errors are within + 0.05% of the full scale pressure range. The DTCnet system serves as the interface between the scanner and the flight/test computer.

19-Probe Total Pressure Rake - Designed and built as part of a Master's thesis project, the 19-probe pressure rake shown below supports 18 simple pitot probes and also accommodates the 12-inch Aeroprobe 5-hole probe for angular measurements in a 19th location. All probes are interchangeable, so the 5-hole probe may be moved throughout the array between flights. As installed on the Velocity below, measurements from the pressure rake were obtained with the 64-channel DTCnet Pressure Scanner.

Temperature Measurements - Several Omega iSeries Temperature readouts and associated RTD's and thermocouples are available for placement on the aircraft or models. A four-channel National Instruments NI 9211 thermocouple input module device is also available. This allows 24-bit measurement of thermocouple output into LabView over a direct, digital USB interface.

Kemo/Stewart 4 Channel / Dual 2 Channel Filter and Amplifier - The VBF44 has a cutoff frequency range of 1Hz to 255kHz in four decade ranges with a gain range of -20dB to 70dB. The filter can be configured for a total of 2 lowpass and 2 highpass channels or two bandpass channels.

Krohn-Hite Multichannel Fixed Frequency Filter - The Krohn-Hite filter has 10 channels with a 1Hz to 15kHz bandpass Butterworth and an output gain of 10dB. Cutoff frequency accuracy is 2%.

Oscilloscopes - Two Tektronix Oscilloscopes are available: a TDS 2014 Four-Channel Digital Storage Oscilloscope (100MHz, 1GS/s), and a TDS 340A Two-Channel Digital Real-Time Oscilloscope (100MHz, 500MS/s).

Multimeters - Two bench mounted Fluke 45 Dual Display multimeters are available on the Flight Lab's electrical station. In addition, two handheld Fluke 179 True RMS Multimeters are available for use in the hangar.

Other Electrical Equipment - A variety of other general electrical equipment rounds out the Flight Research Laboratory's electrical workbench. This includes Weller soldering equipment, two HP 33120A Function Generators, an Elenco XP-605 benchtop variable DC power supply, thermal strippers, a heat gun, a variety of hand tools, and more.

Canon Rebel XSi Digital SLR Still Camera - Available for aerial photography missions as well as for general use, the Canon Rebel XSi is a 12.1 megapixel single-lens reflex digital camera. For a typical photography mission, this camera combined with a wide-angle lens can resolve 0.6 px/ft on the ground from a mission altitude of 5,500 ft AGL. Variation of focal length and altitude can provide a wide variety of detail levels for different purposes.

A unique feature of this camera useful for aerial photography is the ability to control the camera remotely using the aircraft's onboard computer for interval shooting. During this operation, the output can be continuously monitored. Several lenses (standard, wide angle, and telephoto zoom) are available for use. Shown below is the camera installed as in the Velocity for an aerial photography mission. A similar mount is available for the O-2A.

Sony HDR-HC3 High-Definition Video Camera - Used for aerial videography, visible-spectrum correlation with infrared thermography, or general use, the Sony HDR-HC3 High-Definition video camera has a maximum resolution of 1920x1080 (interlaced), and records to MiniDV cassette tapes.

Sony XC-ST50 CCD Cameras - Three CCD cameras are available with a variety of lenses. These can be computer controlled via an external trigger, which allows the electronic shutter speed to be freely specified by the width of an external trigger pulse or by a switch setting on the rear panel of the camera. The shutter speed can vary between 1/100 and 1/10,000 s.

RF Plasma Actuator Equipment - For the generation of RF Plasma Actuator-based distributed "roughness" elements, two Titan MAC-01 Power Supplies are used. One unit is equipped with a MOS-01 Manual Oscillator Module, and the other with an EIM-01 External Input module. With these modules, any AC waveform can be used, supplied internally or by an external function generator.

The signal from the AC Power Unit (up to 260 Vrms output) is then fed through a Corona Magnetics high-voltage transformer with a 10:1 step-up ratio. With this system, the electrodes can be supplied with an arbitrary AC signal of amplitude up to 2.6 kVrms.

Several arrays of electrodes are available with various spacing (2-12 mm). Pictured below is an activated array of 12 mm plasma DRE on the leading edge of a wind-tunnel model. Note the long exposure taken in the dark, where the plasma is most visible.

Audio Speaker/Amplifier System for Acoustic Receptivity - For receptivity to acoustic noise conducted at the Klebanoff-Saric Unsteady Wind Tunnel, a system of speakers and amplifiers is available. Five ADCOM GFA-555III Audio Amplifiers provide power to nine McCauley Sound Model 6222 High Performance 10-inch woofer-design transducers. The audio system is driven by a reference-quality Sony Compact Disc player. This system can supply a controlled acoustic input at 30Hz to 2.5 kHz.

Electronically Regulated Pneumatic DRE System - An LJ Engineering model 487-002 electronic pressure regulator has been coupled with a 1 gallon air tank for providing positive and negative pressure control for Distributed Roughness Elements. The electronic regulator is controlled by a 0-5 VDC signal from a computer and can supply pressure from vacuum up to 29.5 in Hg of pressure. The entire system can be switched from pressure control to vacuum control by turning two valves.

Mitutoyo SJ-400 Surface Roughness Tester - The SJ400 is a high precision, portable surface roughness tester. It is designed to measure surface roughness, surface waviness, and steps. With a 1.25 nm resolution and a stylus pressure of only 0.75 mN, the SJ400 is ideal for making surface roughness measurements on highly sensitive surfaces. The maximum scanning distance is 25 mm and is capable of measuring surface imperfections as large as 800 μm. The SJ-400 is portable and can run off internal batteries. All statistical analysis is performed automatically, but the scanned surface profile can be saved as a data file for further analysis.

Keyence Confocal Laser - The Keyence LT-8120 Confocal Laser is used primarily for measuring roughness heights. The laser is mounted in a 3-axis mill for positioning control within a resolution of 0.0005 inches. The LT-8120 can be used for measuring displacements, maximum peak heights, or maximum valley heights. The resolution of the laser is 0.2 μm and is capable of measuring displacements as high as 2 mm. The confocal laser is small and portable. The output signal can be displayed on a television monitor or output to a computer for data recording.

National Instruments LabView 8.2 Software - This software allows for easy, visual programming of complicated data acquisition programs. Below is a screenshot of a LabView program for acquiring data from an Aeroprobe 5-Hole Probe.

National Instruments Data Acquisition Hardware - Several National Instruments data acquisition cards are available:

• USB-6255: 16 bit; 40 analog inputs, 2 analog outputs
• PCI-6071E: 12 bit; 32 analog inputs, 2 analog outputs
• PCI-6723: 12 bit; 32 analog outputs
• PCI-6023: 12 bit; 8 analog inputs
• DAQCard 6024E: 12 bit PCMCIA card; 8 analog inputs, 2 analog outputs
• DAQCard 6036E: 16 bit PCMCIA card; 8 analog inputs, 2 analog outputs

In addition, several NI BNC terminal blocks of various types are available for interfacing with the above DAQ cards.

Magma 2 and 4 Slot PCI Expansion Systems - In order to connect PCI data acquisition and frame grabber cards to onboard laptop flight computers, PCMCIA-to-PCI expansion chassis from Magma Electronics are used. Two and four slot systems are available; both can interface with either a PCMCIA card or the newer ExpressCard/54 interface.

Flight Computers - Three Dell laptops (Precision M65, Precision M60, Latitude) are available. All models have the necessary variety of PCMCIA and ExpressCard/54 slots, USB ports, and serial interfaces required for interfacing with our flight test instrumentation. Each laptop is equipped with LabView 8.2 and Matlab. A rack mounted Kontron industrial computer is also available for flight testing.

Employee Workstations - Four Dell Precision desktop computers are available for SolidWorks CAD design, preparation of LabView Virtual Instruments or Matlab scripts, and general computing use. All of these machines are equipped with 2.8 GHz (or faster) Pentium IV processors and at least 1GB of RAM.

File Server - For storage of flight test data and all other FRL data needs, a network file share is available, with over 750GB of available storage which is archived each night to external drives.

Network Access - A total of thirteen 1000BaseT wired network connections are available at the FRL. These provide high-speed access to the Texas A&M University campus internal network, AERO department network, and the internet. Six of these lines are dedicated to desktop workstations and the briefing room laptop, and the remaining seven are available for employee and visitor laptop computer access.

Printing Capabilities - The Flight Research Lab is equipped with two network-accessible Hewlett-Packard Laser printers. An HP 4200 Series LaserJet provides general-purpose black-and-white printing capabilities, and an HP Color LaserJet 2840 provides color printing and also serves as a document scanner and fax machine.

Conference and Briefing Room - The FRL's Conference and Briefing room is where all pre- and post-flight briefings are conducted before and after each flight. The room is equipped with a digital projector, audio/video connections for two laptops, and two network lines.

PCB ICP® Accelerometers - These triaxial accelerometers (Model 356A32) can measure + 50 g's pk with a broadband resolution of 0.0003 g's RMS (1Hz to 10 kHz). The frequency range is 1 to 4000Hz (+ 5%). Measurement sensitivity is 100 mV/g (+10%). An ICP® Sensor Signal Conditioner (Model 482A22) is used for all signal processing.

GPS Positioning - Critical for missions such as aerial photography, TripNav TN200 USB GPS devices are used to provide position and ground-track velocity information. This information is logged using a serial data logging and moving-map computer software package developed in-house for this purpose.

Space Age Control Alpha-Beta Indicator - This air data boom can be mounted on the port or starboard aircraft wing. It provides both total and static pressure as well as an angle-of-attack and angle-of-sideslip (through vanes connected to potentiometers). Mounted below the boom in the photograph below is a sting mount which houses three hot-wire probes for freestream turbulence measurements, and an RTD temperature probe.

Aeroprobe Five-Hole Air Data Probes - Like the Space Age Controls Air Data Boom, the FRL's five-hole probes measure angle-of-attack, angle-of-sideslip, total pressure, and static pressure, though in a much more compact design. Three differential pressures are measured, and converted in real-time using a LabView to the quantities of interest.

Pressures can be measured by any of the available transducers (MKS, Honeywell FP2000, or the 64-channel ESP). Tip diameter on each probe is 0.25", and angular accuracy is typically 0.1 to 0.2º.

Hotwire Sting Mount - An aluminum sting mount was machined specifically for mounting to any one of the four pylons on the Cessna O-2A aircraft. It is a symmetric NACA 0015 airfoil originally designed to house 4 hotwires and one RTD. The internal cavity is hollow so some flights have included a 3-axis accelerometer in the internal cavity. The sting mount weighs 32 lbs and has a chord and span of 10 inches and 23 inches, respectively.

ICOM IC-A200 Base Station Radio - Installed in the main FRL office, the ICOM IC-A200 Base Station Radio provides a voice communication link between the ground crew and aircraft operating in the surrounding test areas. The typical communication frequency for this purpose is 123.3 MHz.

Traverse Mechanism:

The Klebanoff-Saric Unsteady Wind Tunnel includes a 3-D traverse designed for detailed measurements on arbitrary shapes. Its total travel is 3.7m, 0.1m and 0.3m in the x- (chord), y- (normal) and z-directions (span) respectively. Minimum steps are 12 microns in x, 1 micron in y and 2 microns in z. With boundary-layer thicknesses on the order of 5mm, it is very easy to obtain over 100 measurements within the boundary layer. Movement of the traverse sting is automated through the use of stepping motors for accurate positioning.

Probes connected to the traverse sting are inserted into the test section through a slotted, moveable plastic panel on the side of the tunnel wall. A transparent pressure box surrounds the traverse to ensure that there are no pressure gradients due to the open slot on the test section wall.

The entire traverse assembly can be removed and replaced with a window for unobstructed viewing.