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Aviation History
1989
1989 - 1343.PDF
Lockheed measures airframe stress Lockheed Electronics has begun design of a pre- production onboard structural Computer to monitor cyclic stresses on aircraft components, following successful prototype flight tests. Pre-programmed with stress parameters unique to the aircraft in which it is installed, the computer records all instances in which design toler ances are exceeded. Ground crews analyse the data to deter mine the effect on aircraft useful life and check for over- stressing which could lead to structural failure. According to Lockheed, the system provides a more accurate estimate of useful life remaining than the present technique based on take-off and landing cycles, operating environment, reported hard landings, and known occurrences of airframe overstressing. The onboard processor collects data from strain gauges and existing aircraft airspeed, altitude, and vertical acceler ation transducers. The strain gauges measure stress on the aircraft's wing and fuselage while the transducers reveal any excessive speeds or sudden alti tude changes. Prototype systems flying in several aircraft in Canada have four strain gauges in each test aircraft's wing and fuselage, but the pre- production processor will be capable of handling data from more than 70 strain gauges and transducers. Space optics tested British Aerospace (Space Systems) is to build a testbed for a fibreoptic communications network for use on board future large spaceraft. BAe has received a £110,000 European Space Agency con tract to continue development of a fibreoptic local area net work, begun in 1985 with an initial £75,000 contract. The reliable onboard data network (Rodnet) has the potential to relay data at up to 200Mbits/second to as many as 100 users, says BAe. An "evaluation platform" is already operating at 32Mbits/second. The latest ESA contract, which will be matched by BAe funding, is for refining the system, constructing a testbed, and developing the packaging techniques required. For use aboard future large spacecraft, such as space sta tions, Rodnet would use fibre optic cables to relay high-speed data over large distances with unprecedented reliability, says BAe. The network would also be fault tolerant, thanks to its "broadcast tree" architecture. • BAe (Space Systems) has completed the improved strato spheric and mesospheric sounder (ISAMS) instrument that will be carried by NASA's upper atmosphere research satellite, due for launch by Shuttle in 1990, to measure the extent of ozone layer depletion. ISAMS is an eight-channel infrared radiometer, and an improved version of an instru ment flown on the Nimbus 7 spacercraft flown in 1978. D Marconi Space Systems has won a £11 million Aerospatiale contract to supply a transponder for the fifth Eutelsat II commu nications satellite. Litef flies fibreoptic gyros for first time Litef of West Germany claims to have flown the first attitude/ heading reference system (AHRS) using fibreoptic gyros. According to the Litton subsidiary, last month's flight tests in a Dornier 228 of the West German DFVLR research establishment proved that per formance requirements for a conventional AHRS could be bettered using a fibreoptic gyro. Development of the solid- state gyro, which uses a laser beam travelling along a coiled fibreoptic filament to sense motion, began in 1983, and is supported by Germany's Ministry of Research and Technology. A major benefit claimed for the gyro is its day-to-day repeat ability and low "random walk", says Litef. This will allow rapid self-alignment of the AHRS in the absence of a magnetic head ing sensor, the company says. A conventional AHRS needs a magnetic sensor to improve heading accuracy. Litef has delivered some 800 examples of its LTN-81 strap- down AHRS which uses the K-273 dynamically tuned spin ning mass gyro. This device has recorded a mean time between failures of more than 200,000 hours in some 2-5 million hours flown. The company is proposing to develop, on its own funds, a fibreoptic AHRS for the Franco-German PAH-2 attack helicopter that will be inter changeable with a navigation subsystem using the K-273 gyro. To be developed in paral lel with the conventional AHRS, the fibreoptic-gyro unit would be available for production helicopters without risk to PAH-2 developer Eurocopter. Kahu Sky hawk fires Maverick Testing of New Zealand's Project Kahu avionics update to itsA-4 Skyhawks continues with the first firing of a Hughes AGM-65 Maverick TV-guided air-to-surface missile. Kahu A-4s will be able to fire all Maverick variants, including infrared- and laser-guided models, and all 22 New Zealand Skyhawks will be updated by October 1990. S NEWS IN BRIEF O United buys Collins TCAS United Airlines is to install Rockwell-Collins TCAS II traffic alen and collision avoidance systems in more than 400 aircraft in 1990 and 1991 The decision follows air line evaluation of TCAS in an FAA-sponsored limited imple mentation programme under way since January 1988, and involving two United airliners. Pan Ameiica:i World Airways is to equip 158 Boeing 727s, "47s, and Airbus A300s with Sund- strand Data Control Mark VII windshear warning computers. Southwest Airlines will equip its 46 analogue Boeing 737- 200s with the MkVlI computer and its 17 digital 737 -300s with Sundstrand's MkV ground prox imity warning computer with windshear detection capability. n A3 30 suppliers named British Aerospace has selected a Simmonds Precision/SFENA team to supply fuel control and monitoring systems for the Air bus A330 and A340 airliners, in acontract potentially worth more than $100 million. Intertech- niquf" of France has won a $23 • 5 million Aerospatiale contract to supply the A330/A340 emerg ency oxygen system, and a $2 • 5 million MBB contract to supply fuel pumps for the aircraft. • Australia chooses ICI. ICL Australia is to supply a distributed, computerised air command and control system to the Australia Defence Force under an A$2 - 3 million contract. The basic air command support system, to be commissioned in July, will comprise a mainframe com puter at Air Headquarters with remote terminals at all oper ational Royal Australian Air OK .'"••'• . S. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 13 May 1989 13
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