HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- The 846th Test Squadron pitched a problem.
New Mexico State University students devised a solution.
Their collaboration recently resulted in an award-winning effort.
The NMSU students who worked on the Rail Alignment Measurement System cart project proposed by the 846 TS took home the second-place Faculty Choice Award, first-place Student Choice Award and Best Poster Presentation Award during the annual Capstone Design awards ceremony held May 1 at NMSU.
NMSU annually sponsors a Capstone Design Program through which commercial and government agencies can submit a project for university students to work on throughout the school year.
Once a proposed project is approved by the NMSU program coordinators, it is presented to students, and a pool of students interested in working on the project is compiled.
A team of students in the NMSU Physical Sciences Laboratory was formed to work on the 846 TS project.
Staff from the 846 TS, a unit of the 704th Test Group at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, proposed students develop a new Rail Alignment Measurement System, or RAMS, cart design.
The 704 TG is a unit of Arnold Engineering Development Complex, headquartered at Arnold Air Force Base, Tenn.
The 846 TS operates the Holloman High Speed Test Track and utilizes a RAMS cart to properly align the track rails used to test items at high speeds.
“A misaligned rail can be catastrophic to a test running at Mach speeds,” said 704th Test Support Squadron Deputy Director Francisco Ramirez. “A manual rail alignment can take weeks or even months to verify the alignment where the RAMS cart takes 30 to 60 minutes to check the alignment and identify any misaligned portions of the rail.”
The issue with the current RAMS cart, which was built in the early 2000s, is that it was created using a custom-made controller board and components that are no longer available today, Ramirez added.
The RAMS cart needed to be redesigned using modern components.
“The challenge to the students was to build a new RAMS cart using currently available components that can be maintained moving forward,” Ramirez said.
Students devoted the first semester of the Capstone project to gathering requirements and developing design concepts. The team met with 846 TS RAMS cart personnel to collect information to aid in their design.
“After presenting a preliminary design review with the RAMS cart users, the students narrowed in on a final design concept,” Ramirez said. “The final design was presented in their critical design review for final buyoff from the 846th Test Squadron.”
The second semester was reserved for execution of this design. Required hardware and supplies were ordered, and the NMSU students worked with the 846 TS machine shop to manufacture the RAMS cart chassis they designed.
“At the 846th, ‘speed’ is about more than just how fast our rocket sleds go; it is about our agility and responsiveness to our customers,” said 846 TS Commander Lt. Col. Esther Anderson. “By allowing us to verify rail alignment rapidly, this new RAMS cart design directly accelerates our test cadence. The innovation these NMSU students brought to the table ensures we can meet the rapid testing demands of modern aerospace and weapons programs.”
As the chassis was built, the motor, drive and machine controller were integrated together. Code was written to control the motor speed, interface to the measurement sensors and save gathered data.
“When the RAMS cart chassis was completed, the NMSU team integrated all the electronics and hardware into the final prototype unit,” Ramirez said.
The prototype RAMS cart was presented during the Capstone Project awards ceremony.
“When we are pushing test articles to hypersonic velocities, there is absolutely zero margin for error,” Anderson said. “This modernized RAMS cart provides the pinpoint precision required to ensure our track is perfectly aligned. It is a critical enabler that allows us to safely execute high-stakes tests and deliver vital data to the warfighter.”
And while Ramirez said some work is still required before the new cart can supplant the one presently employed, the effort of the NMSU students and the 846th personnel who assisted them has provided a baseline that can be used to replace the current system.
“The students did an amazing job,” Ramirez said. “They were as excited to work with us as we were to work with them.”
Their recognition left the students with “grins from ear to ear,” Ramirez said. Their efforts also earned high praise from Anderson.
“The ingenuity demonstrated by these NMSU students is exactly what we need to keep the Holloman High Speed Test Track at the bleeding edge of aerospace testing,” she said. “They didn’t just solve a complex engineering problem for a Capstone project, they designed and modernized a critical piece of infrastructure that will actively support the test and development of our nation’s most advanced weapon systems for years to come.”
Ramirez added the 704 TG intends to work with NMSU students on future projects.
“We are looking at working with the Capstone team again this year to develop a controller for the 586th Flight Test Squadron that will be used in their T-38s for testing,” Ramirez said.