Aeroflex introduces portable RF radio altimeter test set for aircraft flight line test
Posted by John Keller
WICHITA, Kan., 26 March 2010. The Aeroflex Inc. Test Solutions Group in Wichita, Kan., is introducing the ALT-8000, the RF-based portable radio altimeter flight line avionics test set, an inexpensive, portable simulator for testing radio altimeters installed in aircraft and unmanned aerial systems (UASs).
The ALT-8000 lightweight universal test set, which is for 4.3 GHz frequency modulated continuous carrier wave (FMCW) radio altimeters and pulse radio altimeters, has a 12-inch color touch screen.
Until now, flight line test sets have not been RF-based and have only tested the analog or digital back-end of the receiver via test port signal injection, company officials say.
The ALT-8000 may be directly coupled to the radio altimeter transmitter/receiver (TX/RX) ports or may be connected via supplied TX/RX antenna couplers, which accommodate most aircraft antenna variants.
RF simulation of radio altitude from -100 feet to +50,000 feet (+/- 1.5 foot accuracy) is provided and altitude rate may be set to provide a smooth ramping altitude simulation to verify decision heights and altitude trips, for auto-land systems and altitude data feed to enhanced ground proximity warning systems (EGPWS).
As many as three ALT-8000 test sets may be linked via an altitude sync line for executing 2- or 3-channel coordinated altitude simulation for dual or triple installation auto-land system testing. The RF looped test verifies TX frequency, power, sweep rate; the RF level control provides the means to test the UUT sensitivity.
For more information contact Aeroflex Test Solutions online at www.aeroflex.com/ats.
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