Five Rings Aerospace was engaged by De Bruin Air to propose a BAE Jetstream 32 aircraft modification which would to allow for the mounting of an aerial digital mapping system.
The imaging system was to be mounted to inside an existing underbelly pod, allowing for digital imaging of extremely wide swaths of targeted ground areas. To qualify their proposed mounting assembly, we had to first assess the J32 operating environment, provide the environmental data to the imaging system manufacturer, and let them report back as to whether the imaging equipment would function as intended in the pod environment.
Five Rings Aerospace carried out an extensive flight test program to establish the vibration spectrum of the pod under all anticipated operating conditions. Individual flight segments were recorded, including: engine start and ground run, taxi, take-off and climb, cruise, steep turns, descent and landing, aircraft parking, and complete aircraft shutdown (engines off).
In conjunction with specialists from Lansmont Corporation in California, the test data was then analysed, providing individual frequency-domain power spectral density (PSD) plots for each of the flight and ground test segments. On the basis of this test data, the imaging system manufacturer verified that the system would operate effectively in the proposed environment and our customer was able to proceed with the purchase and installation of the system.
