ACRA CONTROL products are used in a wide variety of applications, mostly focussed in aerospace but also in ground transportation such as railway and on- and off-road vehicles, and power / energy such as wind turbine telemetry. Our data acquisition products come to the fore in demanding applications where their rugged miniature construction, wide operating temperature range and diverse functionality are key factors.

The main aerospace applications are:

Flight Test Instrumentation

Some of the more popular applications for ACRA CONTROL equipment

in the field of flight test are the following;

• Development Testing
• Flight, Carriage and Release Certification
• Production Testing
• Mid-life and Performance Upgrades

Operational Loads Measurement

The purpose of an Operational Loads Measurement (OLM) program is to provide useful data about the loads and strains experienced by an aircraft in flight. By acquiring data that represents the normal use of the aircraft and determining the fatigue index of the structure, it is possible to evaluate the potential for prolonging the life of the craft.

As miniaturization of electronics hardware continues, the benefits for OLM applications are clear. There can be increased functionality in decreasing package sizes. Along with increased storage capacity comes the ability to record more sensors, more accurately than before.

For an OLM system to be useful it must meet three essential requirements:

• The DAU and the DRU must operate in a reliable manner. If sufficient quantities of data are not recorded, then there can be little confidence in any results obtained.

• The nature, number and type of sensors used must be sufficient to give a representative fatigue spectrum.

• The quality of the data recorded from the sensors must be high.
  

With improved OLM systems yielding more data, of better quality than previously, there can be more confidence in the results obtained when comparing computer models/fatigue tests with the real world experiences of the aircraft.

UAV Applications

Initially used for certification flight-testing in the UAV market, it quickly became apparent that KAM-500 could play an important role in the production articles. As well, with its stable, state-machine driven backplane, the unit provides an ideal conduit for data to and from the UAV, in the form of an air data terminal communications interface unit (ADT-CIU). Up-linked command and control data for the mission and flight control computers can be bit-synced and decommutated. Status data from these computers via RS-422 or 1553 bus, together with mission data e.g. imaging sensor PCM output, is simultaneously collected and output to the telemetry downlink.

Possible additions include one or more video streams, compressed into MPEG4 to provide increased situational awareness; a memory card to provide maintenance/usage and basic accident data recording; a GPS received for time and position data - all with standard plug-in cards, allowing the designer to remove several boxes from the airframe.