Technology update

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Ametek makes AOA transducer for the C-5

Ametek Aerospace will be providing Lockheed Martin with AOA transducers for the C-5 Galaxy Avionics Modernization Program.

Ametek Aerospace has been awarded the contract to provide angle-of-attack (AOA) transducers to Lockheed Martin for the U.S. Air Force's C-5 Galaxy Avionics Modernization Program. Lockheed Martin will update the entire fleet of 126 Galaxy aircraft to bring them into compliance with emerging civil aviation requirements for communications, navigation, surveillance, and air traffic management requirements.

The AOA transducer from Ametek is a fuselage-mounted, precision-sensing device designed for the angular measurement of local airflow. The rugged transducer will provide pilots with critical angle-of-attack and stall-warning information. The transducer features a built-in, self-regulating deicing/anti-icing sensing element. It has a self-compensated viscous damper to minimize flutter effects and enhance aerodynamic response. Precision-adjustable gearing minimizes any hysteresis error, while an individually balanced assembly offsets the effects of gravity and cross-axis acceleration.

Ametek designed the transducer for easy installation and maintenance. The transducer has polarizing indexing holes for repeatable installation and mounts from inside the aircraft. According to the company, it requires no calibration other than alignment to the aircraft's reference waterline. Port and starboard AOA transducers are interchangeable. The sensing vane wedge assembly is field replaceable from outside the aircraft without recalibration.

- Frank Bokulich

Bell 412 fly-by-wire system flown

The Institute for Aerospace Research at the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada performed its first fly-by-wire (FBW) engagement of the Bell 412 Advanced Systems Research Aircraft in February. The flight, with the pilot operating a single side-stick controller, included several single- and four-axis engagements in direct drive mode. The engagements ran smoothly, with one lasting over two minutes.

The Bell 412 Advanced Systems Research Aircraft is the fourth generation of FBW helicopter operated by the NRC, the first having flown in 1961. Each of these four helicopters has been committed to improving and refining the handling qualities of rotorcraft.

FBW technology has been applied successfully to many fixed-wing aircraft, both airline and military, as well as some helicopters. The research application of this technology creates the ability to modify the dynamic characteristics of the baseline airplane or helicopter by the use of modern and classical approaches to control. The resulting airframe becomes, effectively, an airborne simulator, fully capable of real-time evaluation of specific dynamic issues such as optimal control sensitivity or control system bandwidth. More relevant to airframe manufacturers, the aircraft can be programmed to represent entire future airframe concepts that can be evaluated in flight well before a final design is complete.

An example of this is the NRC's ability to simulate the slow- and near-STOL flight characteristics of new-generation fixed-wing fighters. The NRC's rotary-wing vehicle is capable of flying as though it were a fixed-wing aircraft.

- Frank Bokulich

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