Putting flight simulator to a real test

Citation

(1998), "Putting flight simulator to a real test", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 70 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.1998.12770eaf.004

Putting flight simulator to a real test

Putting flight simulator to a real test

Keywords Aircraft, Flight simulators, Pilots, Training

The ability to provide repeatable results reliably is a key requirement for any training system. For air pilot training systems it is even more crucial.

For this reason Thomson Training & Simulation, of Crawley, West Sussex uses Assessment Service, of Fareham, Hampshire to test its aircraft flight simulators for compliance with the latest EMC regulations (Plate 2).

Training pilots to "fly" safely is a key role of any flight simulator, and so it is vital that no EMC-related design problems in the simulator itself contribute to a trainee pilot "crashing" the system.

Thomson manufactures a range of flight simulators for commercial aircraft for training pilots to fly a wide range of airliners, including the latest Boeing 777 and 737, as well as the whole Airbus family.

Whichever aircraft is being simulated it is vital to be sure the system not only simulates the real aircraft's performance as closely as possible, but that it can do so reliably and accurately time after time.

Just like the aircraft themselves, simulators have to be tested thoroughly to ensure they operate correctly and consistently.

Plate 2 Thomson Training & Simulation uses Assessment Service's in-situ testing skills to test its aircraft flight simulators for compliance with the latest EMC regulations

Many of Thomson's complex flight simulators are too big to be tested in a conventional test chamber. Thomson, therefore, often requests Assessment Service, a business of TÜV Product Service Limited which is one of the world's leading testing, certification and assessment organisations, to undertake the necessary tests in situ at its Crawley site.

The testing includes assessment of conducted emissions, radiated emissions, bulk current injection, fast burst transients, electrostatic discharge, and mobile phone tests. Testing is also carried out to check the performance of the simulator's image generator, visual systems, and motion systems.

Much of Assessment Service's test work for Thomson focuses on the CE marking's heavy industrial EMC standard.

The ability to offer a flexible service and carry out immunity testing at a Thomson site is a key factor in Thomson's selection of Assessment Service as test partner. For one project, Assessment Service started in situ testing at Thomson's Crawley facility in the UK, and completed the tests in Berlin, Germany.

Assessment Service is geared to offer a customer-responsive service which is well suited to testing or trialling large equipment at any location. The company's service includes fully automated conducted susceptibility from 20Hz to 400MHz as well as fully automated emissions/site surveying from 20Hz to 26.GHz. Specialist staff work in partnership with the customer to investigate design flaws or failures, with the aim of proposing remedial action that can be carried out immediately.

"We aim to work with our clients to solve their design or manufacturing problems with the minimum of fuss", explains Mark Chivers, Assessment Service's site test manager. "We can either help to make physical changes in a product or system or else recommend changes if it cannot be resolved during a single visit."

"At present Assessment Service is working with us to test our C2000 family of simulators", explained Michel Sauvageot, staff engineer at Thomson Training & Simulation's Crawley site. "Once the essential testing is done on parts of the simulator we then use the technical construction file (TCF) method to claim our compliance with the relevant standards because this is the best way of dealing with such large-sized systems. Assessment Service then help us to check over our TCF to ensure compliance."

Assessment Service is a business of TÜV Product Service Limited which is one of the world's leading organisations that provides the testing, certification and assessment services for products and management systems. The organisation has an international network of more than 50 offices worldwide.

For further details contact TÜV Product Service Limited. Tel: +44 (0) 1329 443367; Fax: +44 (0) 1329) 443421; E-mail: chickey@ti.tuvps.co.uk