AEDC leads the way with data acquisition technology upgrade validation

  • Published
  • By Philip Lorenz III
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. --  A recent ribbon-cutting ceremony at AEDC's J-1 turbine engine test cell marked a major milestone, signifying the validation of an Engine Data Acquisition and Processing System (EDAPS) upgrade.

Melissa Tate, Test Systems Division/ Aeropropulsion Systems Project Section (TTSIB) Investments Air Force project manager, described the EDAPS upgrade as a $2-million project dedicated to developing new engine data sources for the turbine test cells. She said this is a major milestone in data acquisition for the center.

The upgrade project was a six-year endeavor to develop and validate new data sources for temperature and voltage measurements. This was accomplished both in a lab setting and with more than 1,000 run-time hours and approximately 200 hours of air-on test support in the J-1 test cell on an F100 engine.

Tate said the new data sources, which are Digital Temperature Systems (DTS) and Digital Voltage Systems (DVS), will provide significant benefits to the AEDC customer.

"The new data sources are more robust and the data is more accurate," she said. "No pre-test calibrations are necessary, reducing the hours required to be worked by the test crew. Also, the modular design of these new systems reduces the energy cost - you power only what you need.

"The new data sources are not test cell-specific and so replacements and expansions can be pulled from a common pool of components."

Cameron Liner, Special Missions Section, Communications Branch (TSDIB) Air Force data acquisition and network engineer, said it is important to understand what the DVS and DTS does during a ground test. One way data is acquired during a ground test is initially in the form of voltage.

"This (DVS/DTS) is a system that has been validated to replace our old data acquisition hardware and act as a primary way of acquiring pressure, temperature and other voltage measurements," he said.

According to Liner, the upgraded system will allow data to be acquired more rapidly, less intrusively and definitely reduce overall cost of ground testing at AEDC.

"We have to look for ways to save costs and one of the best ways is through material purchases, materials, reducing the amount of copper to maintain [and] those kinds of things," he said. "[The system's] footprint is smaller. [Also] they benefit in being able to use the same hardware all over the center."

The DVS/DTS replaces systems that are almost 30 years old and are becoming increasingly difficult to repair and maintain. The older system linked the sensors for acquiring data to the test article through "hundreds of miles" of copper cabling.

Liner said the new DVS/DTS works on the same principal as the older system, but without the outdated hardware and analog processors.

The EDAPS upgrade replaced bulky hardware and extensive copper cabling with modular units that require power and an Ethernet connection to the EDAPS computers. The data source units also provide the potential to be installed in closer proximity to the engine or other test article.

Doug Hamilton, the ATA project manager, and others associated with the effort are already looking to what will follow the upgrade.

"The next part of the investment effort is going to be deployment," Hamilton said. "What we're celebrating here [is] the development of hardware and software to put us now on the path to be able to use it."

Tate said one of the most significant gains will be the savings incurred with the new hardware.

"These new data sources are more cost effective," she said. "The Digital Voltage Scanners are 30 percent less expensive per channel and the Digital Temperature Scanners are 55 percent less expensive per channel compared to the current instrumentation.

Besides the turbine test cells, the newly validated EDAPS could be used to replace the older systems in AEDC's space chambers, arc heater facilities and Aerodynamic Propulsion Test Unit.

Tate also emphasized the team effort it took to accomplish the EDAPS development, evaluation and validation.

"The success of this project required collaboration between many organizations across the base, including turbines, the communications branch, contracting and ATA's investments, information technology, test facility and maintenance professionals," she said.