measurment equipment

[flight test]

Does anybody know about low cost sensor to measure bank and pitch angles in flight for automatic recording?

I´ve been experimenting with modules from rc helicopters but results were not very satisfactory.

I would appreciate every hint.

[Genghis the Engineer]

Any attitude indicator that is designed for use with any form of INS/AFCS (and possibly ADR) will have pitch and bank outputs - usually analogue. I recall using this some years ago on two aircraft, the Hawk and Jaguar which both allowed fairly straightforward data recording, the former by intercepting data streams between the AI and the INS, the latter by simply pulling the ADR.

I'm pretty certain both used Ferranti units, which were pretty much self contained. If you are on a very tight budget (who isn't in this game !) and don't have a suitable unit alreday you can generally get these items for a few hundred pounds as they are constantly being replaced in various military aircraft MLUs and scrapped or sold-off to collectors. You should be able to do a more or less straight swap for a more basic HGU and then record from the "new" attitude indicator through a straightforward A/D converter and data-logger.

Certainly with the Ferranti unit in the Jag I had no trouble getting data sheets from the manufacturer, although they've been through several company mergers since then so might not be so helpful as they once were - I don't know having left for a live of sin in civil aviation.

G

[ft]

Take a look at this piece of gear - very, very interesting IMO.

Cheers,
Fred