Flight Test Measurement Technologies

NASA continues to use flight research as a critical element in the maturation of technology. This includes developing test techniques that improve the control of in-flight test conditions, expand measurement and analysis methodologies, and improve test data acquisition and management with sensors and systems that have fast response, low volume, minimal intrusion, and high accuracy and reliability. By using state-of-the-art flight test techniques along with novel measurement and data acquisition technologies, NASA and the aerospace industry will be able to conduct flight research more effectively and meet the challenges presented by NASA's and industry's cutting-edge research and development programs. The role of UAV (Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles) in human endeavors is expanding rapidly. Besides imaging, small UAVs can play a vital role in scientific explorations in challenging environments. Evolving small UAV architectures to meet NASA needs and unique applications has the potential to spur the domestic small UAV market to new heights. NASA invites small businesses to provide out-of-the box solutions to further advance the small UAV platform architecture by incorporating novel solutions in operational elegance, power management, and effective data processing and dissemination. This solicitation involves small businesses in proposing technological advancements for small UAV architectures, focusing on reducing size, weight, power consumption, and cost, as well as improving form, fit, and functionality to aid NASA applications. NASA's Flight Demonstrations and Capabilities (FDC) Project supports a variety of flight regimes and vehicle types, ranging from low-speed, subsonic applications and electric propulsion through transonic and high-speed flight regimes. Therefore, this subtopic covers a wide range of flight conditions and vehicles. NASA also requires improved measurement and analysis techniques for acquisition of real-time, in-flight data used to determine aerodynamic, structural, flight control, and propulsion system performance characteristics. These data will be used to provide information necessary to safely expand the flight and test envelopes of aerospace vehicles and components. This requirement includes the development of sensors for both in situ and remote sensing to enhance the monitoring of test aircraft safety and atmospheric conditions during flight testing. Flight test and measurement technology proposals may significantly enhance the capabilities of major government and industry flight test facilities. Proposals may address innovative methods and technologies to reduce costs and extend the health, maintainability, communication, and test techniques of flight research support facilities to directly enhance flight test and measurement. For this year's solicitation, areas of interest emphasizing flight test measurement technologies will be focusing on digital data processing, telemetry, and optical sensing. An extra emphasis is placed on current state-of-the-art in UAV technologies to further develop and/or adapt and test new sensor suites to supporting NASA ARMD mission and beyond. Advance UAV-based navigation in urban and extreme environmental settings, aid in future vertiport management, assess environmental safety including hazardous weather conditions due to wind, snow, wildfire. Novel sensor architectures with limited range but increased precision or resolution in performance for UAV applications involving altimeters, ranging, terrain slope, rock/debris locations, thermal locations, landing beacon navigation, landers for extreme environments Development of UAVs with low size, weight, power consumption and cost (SWaP-C) with autopilot with multiple integrated components. High-efficiency digital telemetry techniques and/or systems to enable high data rate and high-volume telemetry for flight test, including air-to-air and air-to-ground communication. Improved processing technologies that can perform low-latency near real-time telemetry processing that can utilize open-source operating system. Real-time integration of multiple data sources from onboard, off-board, satellite, and ground-based measurement equipment, including recording of data bus/avionics architectures. Test techniques, including optical-based measurement methods that capture data in various spectra, for conducting quantitative in-flight boundary layer flow visualization, Schlieren photography, near- and far-field sonic boom determination, and atmospheric modeling, as well as measurements of global surface pressure/shear and shock wave propagation. Improved ruggedized, single-longitudinal mode, wide bandwidth wavelength-sweeping laser system design for in-situ flight structural health monitoring to be operated in aircraft, specifically for optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR) technology utilized in NASA's Fiber Optic Sensing System (FOSS).