Browse Topic: Test facilities
This SAE Aerospace Information Report (AIR) developed by a broad cross section of personnel from the aviation industry and government agencies is offered to provide state-of-the-art information for the use of individuals and organizations designing new or upgraded turboshaft engine test facilities. This document is also applicable to turboprop engines tested with a dynamometer as load absorption device, as they are basically tested as turboshaft engines. For propeller-equipped turbofan testing facilities design considerations, see 2.1.7.
This SAE standard establishes the requirement for suppliers to plan a reliability program that satisfies the following three requirements: a. The supplier shall ascertain customer requirements b. The supplier shall meet customer requirements c. The supplier shall assure that customer requirements have been met
This SAE Standard establishes the requirement for suppliers to plan a reliability program that satisfies the following three requirements: a. The supplier shall ascertain customer requirements; b. The supplier shall meet customer requirements; c. The supplier shall assure that customer requirements have been met. This document applies to the specification, design and development, and assurance of any product. This document does not specify the method to be included in the program. Rather, the content of each program must be tailored to satisfy customer requirements using the most appropriate means.
Army researchers recently developed a 3D-printable, easy-to-assemble drone designed to enhance intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities. Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi, MD Researchers at the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, or DEVCOM, Army Research Laboratory (ARL) harnessed bottom-up Soldier innovation to develop an experimental 3D-printed small unmanned aerial system, or drone, that was demonstrated at the inaugural U.S. Army Best Drone Warfighter Competition in Huntsville, Alabama. Known as the Soldier Portable Autonomous Reconnaissance Transitioning Aircraft, or SPARTA, the drone was developed at DEVCOM ARL in collaboration with Soldiers. By incorporating Soldier feedback early in the design process and leveraging ARL's world-class research facilities, researchers developed a 3D-printable, easy-to-assemble drone designed to enhance intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities. ARL is actively working to partner the technology
Machina Labs recently closed its latest round of financing with $124 million, enough to develop a facility featuring up to 50 of its RoboCraftsman cells capable of producing thousands of complex structural assemblies for aerospace and defense customers - a list that already includes Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Air Force, among others. Founded in 2019, Machina Labs is a California-based company that seeks to reinvent metal manufacturing with a robot that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to rapidly form and assemble complex military grade structures directly from digital design files. RoboCraftsman is the company's manufacturing robot that leverages its proprietary “RoboForming” process to integrate multiple manufacturing processes - including metal forming, trimming, scanning, and heat treating - into a single containerized machine.
This specification covers a synthetic rubber in the form of sheet, strip, tubing, extrusions, and molded shapes. This specification should not be used for molded rings, compression seals, O-ring cords, and molded in place gaskets for aeronautical and aerospace applications without complete consideration of the end use prior to the selection this material.
As the utilization of lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles expands, monitoring the usable cell capacity (UCC) is essential for ensuring accurate state-of-health (SOH) estimation. Battery performance degradation is influenced by temperature and constraints. Capacity tests in laboratory settings are typically conducted at low C-rates to approximate equilibrium conditions, whereas in real vehicle applications, charging currents are often much higher. This discrepancy in rates frequently results in deviations between laboratory characterization and on-board Battery Management Systems (BMS) capacity estimation. To investigate how C-rate of diagnostic Reference Performance Test (RPT) modulates aging effects under temperature and mechanical loading, we conducted long-term cycling tests on lithium iron phosphate/graphite pouch cells at 25°C and 45°C under different constrained conditions. The cycling protocol is a tiered multi-rate protocol. Cells were aged at Block1 under 1C, and UCC
Leonardo DRS has opened a new naval power and propulsion manufacturing and testing facility in Charleston, South Carolina, expanding its role in delivering next generation electric propulsion, integrated power systems, and high energy payload support for U.S. Navy surface and undersea platforms. The 140,000 square foot site consolidates advanced manufacturing, final assembly, and high fidelity testing for electric power conversion and propulsion systems, while also supporting naval steam turbine design, production, and subsystem integration for programs including the Columbia class ballistic missile submarine. A representative for Leonardo's Naval Power Systems business unit provided emailed statements with details about the type of advanced manufacturing the company will deploy at the new facility.
NASA's Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Program and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, have successfully tested wideband technology that allows spacecraft to communicate with both government and commercial networks for the first time. Launched July 23, 2025, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare mission, the Polylingual Experimental Terminal (PExT) is demonstrating multilingual wideband terminal technology. Hosted on a satellite from York Space Systems, PExT enhances a spacecraft's communications subsystem, enabling mission controllers to track and exchange data more efficiently across a broad range of networks and frequencies.
This document discusses, in broad and general terms, the subject of acoustical considerations in engine test cells. One of the primary purposes of an engine test cell is to control the noise emanating from the operating engine in order to reduce noise in the surrounding facility and community to acceptable levels. This is done by the design and installation of specialized acoustic elements and features, which need to be fully integrated into the overall test cell design. It should be further noted that the requirements of acoustic control are critical to the proper operation of the engine, safety of plant equipment and personnel, and meeting local and legal noise requirements.
Higher road noise is perceived in the cabin when the test vehicle encounters road irregularities like bump or pothole in the public roads. The transfer of transient road inputs inside the body caused objectionable cabin noise. Measurements are conducted at different road surfaces to identify the patch where the objective data well correlated with the noise measured at the public road. Wavelet analysis is carried out to identify the frequency zones since the events are transient in nature. TPA is carried out in time domain to identify the nature of the noise and the dominant path through which the transient road forces are transferring inside the body. Based on the outcome of TPA, various countermeasures like reduction of dynamic stiffness of suspension bushes, TMDs on the path are proposed to reduce the structure borne noise. Criteria which need to be considered for reduction of cabin noise due to transient road inputs is also discussed.
The U.S. Space Force (USSF) Space Systems Command (SSC) achieved a major milestone during a demonstration event in August, showcasing the Joint Antenna Marketplace (JAM) and successfully transferring the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory's (NRL) Transmit/Receive Enterprise (TREx) Service from a research and development project into an SSC operational prototype. During the demonstration, the team demonstrated the use of commercial antennas for real-time contacts between a Space Development Agency's (SDA) satellite operations center and their Tranche 0 satellites using JAM which leveraged the newly integrated TREx system.
The U.S. Space Force (USSF) Space Systems Command (SSC) achieved a major milestone during a demonstration event in August, showcasing the Joint Antenna Marketplace (JAM) and successfully transferring the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s (NRL) Transmit/Receive Enterprise (TREx) Service from a research and development project into an SSC operational prototype.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) researchers have overcome a barrier to using a more affordable, dry process for manufacturing the Li-ion batteries used in vehicles and electronic devices. The resulting batteries provide greater electricity flow and reduced risk of overheating.
NASA Johnson Space Center has developed the Micro-Organ Device (MOD) platform technology that serves as a drug screening system with human or animal cell micro-organs to supplement and reduce animal studies while potentially increasing the success of clinical trials. The technology was originally developed to evaluate pharmaceuticals in zero gravity to accelerate development and validation of countermeasures for humans in space as well as evaluate space and planetary stressors on a biological level.
The European Space Agency (ESA) has added a micro-vibration test instrument, developed by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), to its satellite testing facilities. NPL is the United Kingdom’s National Measurement Institute, developing and maintaining the national primary measurement standards. The instrument measures vibrations generated by satellite subsystems, to quantify their effects on images and measurements made from space. This facility is the result of five years of collaboration between NPL and ESA.
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have developed an innovative new technique using carbon nanofibers to enhance binding in carbon fiber and other fiber-reinforced polymer composites — an advance likely to improve structural materials for automobiles, airplanes and other applications that require lightweight and strong materials.
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