THE NASA LANGLEY RESEARCH CENTER'S GENERAL AVIATION BASELINE RESEARCH SYSTEM

摘要

This paper describes the architecture, capabilities, and design considerations of a common baseline research system, which was developed at the NASA Langley Research Center for use in its three general aviation research aircraft. NASA Langley has acquired a Cessna 206X Stationair, Lancair Columbia 300X, and a Cirrus Design SR22X aircraft to support a variety of NASA flight-research programs, in particular the Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) Project, and the Aviation Safety Program. The SATS Program is a partnership involving NASA, the FAA, states, industry, and universities to develop key enabling transportation technologies. A set of general aviation research requirements was developed, and a baseline research system architecture was derived from those requirements. The baseline design requirements include: modular architecture; standard interchangeable components; re-configurable equipment mounting; and, an extensive sensor suite [1]. A combination of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) and custom-designed systems were selected, purchased or fabricated, and installed. These systems include: separate research power; multi-function flat-panel displays; state sensors; airborne internet; serial data bus; video recording; data acquisition; data-link; Global Positioning System (GPS)/Differential GPS (DGPS); telemetry; and instrumentation. Several open architecture standards were used in the selected research equipment. These open standards include: Ethernet; Controller Area Network (CAN); Intel x86-based computers; and the Common Airborne Instrumentation System (CAIS). The Cirrus Design SR22 and Lancair Columbia 300 aircraft are small, single-engine, four-place, composite-construction aircraft with limited payload and electrical power. These attributes presented significant additional design challenges beyond those associated with the implementation in the Cessna 206X, a six-place metal aircraft. The Cirrus Design SR22 was the first of the three aircraft to be outfitted with the "General Aviation Baseline Research System", and is currently conducting SATS research experiments. The resulting system is meeting NASA Langley's flight-research needs, and advancing the use of the latest technology in general aviation.