AALTO Zephyr 8 | Dossier In addition to the UAV, the operation infrastructure includes AALTO’s GCS and its ‘rover’ mobile ground terminals. The latter are containerised workshops for pre-flight checks and analyses, as well as testing and validating systems on-site before a launch. That can mean individual component tests such as cycling battery cells or electric motors. The company will also set up battery isolation and conditioning chambers on-site to monitor and prepare the packs for flight. AALTO will also bring what it calls its low-level test article to launch sites. This is a 30% scale model of the Zephyr with the same Reynolds numbers as the Z8, albeit slightly different aeroelasticity. Nonetheless, it allows Tyler and his team to run ad hoc tests of the flight control system in the context of the HAPS’ aerodynamics. “Also, before we take the aircraft to a launch site, we’ll have had to test every component with really long burn-in times, because for our operations to work, we need everything onboard to work non-stop for weeks or months at a time. We won’t launch for, say, a 60-day flight unless every component has been tested to function over 120 days,” Tyler adds. The company’s testing systems include test benches for avionics, payload integration, and propulsion rigs. It also has a full ‘iron bird’ test rig for installing and validating payloads, to study how payloads can interact with the Zephyr’s avionics, electrical, structural, network and other aspects of the aircraft’s systems. The company also owns two GCS simulators, for training its flight teams, some testing, and for assessing the design of its HMI, to determine for instance whether the crew finds the GCS layout intuitive or otherwise during routine or emergency situations. Construction The Zephyr’s production facility is organised linearly, such that construction materials are received and stored at one end, with manufacturing of structural parts in the next room in its factory. Continuing through the factory, there are Zephyrs in various stages of assembly. “The construction process starts with taking the carbon fibre ribs, spars and other airframe components, and placing them into our jigs, which are recognisable as aluminium structures around the workshop floor,” Briggs says. “Each jig is precisely controlled, and regularly checked and tested to see they’re still working within the tolerances we need for consistent manufacturing.” Once the carbon parts are laid-up in the jigs and checked for correct placement, they can be glued together as an airframe. The completed airframes are then moved to the centre of the facility and load-tested to factors beyond the aircraft’s design Inertial Performance Reimagined 0.076°/√hr ARW 600 Hz Bandwidth 10 kHz Output Rate <100 µs Message Delay 0.6 Cubic Inches www.gladiatortechnologies.com/sx2 Lower Noise. Higher Speed. SX2 Inertial Sensors with VELOX™ Technology +1 425.363.4180
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