Flight Test Instrumentation

Flight Test Instrumentation is a collection of papers presented at the Third International Symposium on Flight Test Instrumentation held in 1964 under the auspices of the Department of Flight of the College of Aeronautics in Cranfield, UK. The symposium provided a forum for discussing advances in flight test instrumentation and covered topics ranging from pre-detection recording in the megacycle range to some problems and uses of fuel flow measurements in supersonic aircraft. This volume is comprised of 14 chapters and begins by describing angle of attack and angle of sideslip measurements using fully de-iced non-movable differential pressure-sensing heads and low-range capacitive pressure transducers. The next chapter explores errors in stability derivative measurements that can occur due to shortcomings in instrumentation design, as well as the implications of such errors for the development of a modern supersonic aeroplane. The application of the vector plotting technique to flight flutter testing of the Hawker Siddeley Trident is then considered. Subsequent chapters focus on the use of high-accuracy instrumentation techniques for non-steady flight measurements; strain gauging for transient heating cases; and free-flight model techniques for aerodynamic research at supersonic and hypersonic speeds. This book will be a useful resource for students, practitioners, and officials of aeronautics.

Flight Testing, Volume IV: Instrumentation Systems serves as a guide to flight test instrumentation systems for establishing flight test programs. This book provides aircraft flight testers with the information required to appreciate the capabilities and limitations of the instrumentation techniques, indicating some of the many alternatives possible in flight instrumentation. It considers the systems concept in planning flight test instrumentation and functional organization of the component parts of an instrumentation system, followed by a discussion of the components of a flight data acquisition and reduction system that are organized into functional categories. Within these categories, a comparison is made between the various data collection systems and data reducing systems. The similarities, advantages, and limitations of each type of system component and significance of the fundamental properties of each device are also noted in this volume. This compilation is written primarily for persons not well-trained in electronics with special emphasis toward promoting the systems point of view in considering the problems of measurement in flight.

An introduction to digital measurement processes on aircraft is provided. Flight test instrumentation systems are rapidly evolving from analog-intensive to digital intensive systems, including the use of onboard digital computers. The topics include measurements that are digital in origin, as well as sampling, encoding, transmitting, and storing data. Particular emphasis is placed on modern avionic data bus architectures and what to be aware of when extracting data from them. Examples of data extraction techniques are given. Tradeoffs between digital logic families, trends in digital development, and design testing techniques are discussed. An introduction to digital filtering is also covered. Bever, Glenn A. Ames Research Center...