Hardware and Software for Air-to-Air Schlieren Imaging

Software and electronic hardware are being developed to provide cockpit guidance and camera control for an air-to-air schlieren photography system that is to be used to take high-resolution pictures of shock waves generated by a full-scale airplane (see Figure 1). For success in schlieren imaging, it will be necessary to position two airplanes — an observing airplane and the one generating the shock waves — precisely along a line of sight to the Sun, which will be used for illumination. The shock-wave-generating airplane will fly at supersonic speed, while the observing airplane will have to fly at a much lower speed of 250 knots (129 m/s).