Curtiss-Wright Launches Wireless Evaluation Kit to Bring Wireless Networking to Flight Test Instrumentation
ASHBURN, Va. – August 4, 2016 -- Curtiss-Wright’s Defense Solutions division today announced that has introduced a Wireless Evaluation Kit for the testing and development of a wireless sensing solution for data acquisition in Flight Test Instrumentation (FTI) applications. The kit provides all that is needed to program a wireless sensor network, acquire data from the network, and then integrate the data into a Curtiss-Wright Acra KAM-500 based data acquisition network or as a stand-alone solution.
Included in the kit is an Acra KAM-500 Data Acquisition Unit (DAU), an Ethernet backplane controller, an evaluation wireless data acquisition module (KAM/WSI/104), and two LORD MicroStrain wireless sensor nodes. The KAM/WSI/104 acquires data from the two sensors, passes this data to the Ethernet controller which packetizes the data and transmits the data to an Ethernet device (switch, recorder, laptop etc.).
The two off-the-shelf wireless sensor nodes use LORD MicroStrain LXRS® protocol to ensure the acquisition of coherent data. The V-Link is a versatile seven-channel analog, wireless sensor node with high sample rates and data logging capability. The G-Link is a low-cost integrated accelerometer node with ±10g measurement range and various sampling options.
“Curtiss-Wright is very excited to bring a proven wireless sensor network capability to our existing suite of FTI data acquisition products,” said Lynn Bamford, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Defense Solutions division. “This evaluation kit is a ideal way to quickly get started testing this new solution and its many benefits, including reduced cabling, time, effort and weight.”
Availability
The kit is available immediately. Please note it contains a fully functional evaluation grade KAM/WSI/104. A free RMA FPGA upgrade (upon release) and a sales discount are available for purchases completed in 2016. All the nodes are configured using the supplied Node Commander software that configures and starts acquisition from the remote nodes. Such functionality will be included in DAS Studio 3 user interface software upon the release of WSI/104. For more information, please contact [email protected].
About the Acra KAM-500
The Acra KAM-500 is a compact, low-power, modular DAU that has been developed through decades of experience and continued investment in R&D. Driven by hardwired finite state machines, the DAU is extremely reliable, and its small size makes it ideal for installing in locations that have limited space. The Acra KAM-500 has passed rigorous environmental testing ensuring it is fully qualified for aerospace applications, enabling rugged flight data acquisition in the harshest of environments.
About LORD MicroStrain’s LXRS Protocol
LORD MicroStrain’s proprietary LXRS wireless protocol is a 2.4GHz IEEE 802.15.4-compliant communication architecture featuring Lossless Extended Range Synchronized wireless data. LXRS® combines microsecond time-synchronization with a scalable star network. User-controllable sampling rates are automatically coordinated over thousands of wireless sensor nodes, all with 100% reliable data throughput under most operating conditions. LORD wireless nodes are time-synchronized to ± 32 microseconds to provide precise, comparable measurements on a distributed wireless network.
For more information about Curtiss-Wright’s Defense Solutions division, please visit www.curtisswrightds.com.
About Curtiss-Wright Corporation
Curtiss-Wright Corporation is a global innovative company that delivers highly engineered, critical function products and services to the commercial, industrial, defense and energy markets. Building on the heritage of Glenn Curtiss and the Wright brothers, Curtiss-Wright has a long tradition of providing reliable solutions through trusted customer relationships. The company employs approximately 8,400 people worldwide. For more information, visit www.curtisswright.com.
