The Aerospace Network recently organised a tour of the test and evaluation facilities at Qinetiq, Boscombe Down, followed by an evening lecture programme.



Tour of Test and Evaluation Facilities

After the usual safety briefing, we were welcomed formally by Paul Cheetham (Head of Engineering Governance) who showed a short video about the history and structure of Qinetiq followed by a briefing.  I summarise below some points that I gleaned from the briefing.

 

Qinetiq operates Boscombe Down and its facilities on behalf of MOD with about 1600 staff on site – roughly one-third of the UK Qinetiq staffing.  RAF staff are also at Boscombe for their operational knowledge and as part of the “Empire Test Pilot School”, one of three such facilities in the world.  The others are in the USA and France.  The ETPS turns over about 20 pilots each year, half from UK forces and half from abroad.  Qinetiq is divided into physics, structures, mechanical systems, electronic and avionics systems, weapons, software and safety, which all support its advisory capabilities.  For aviation, as well as Boscombe, there are also facilities at Farnborough (home of the Air Show), where a wind tunnel is located.  One interesting point that emerged from the ensuing discussion was the difference between test and evaluation at Boscombe vs the T&E that manufacturers carry out.  In essence this is manufacturer testing against specification, with Boscombe using the service personnel expertise and test pilots to test against the operational role and scenarios.

 

The tour then visited the RF anechoic test facility, where we were welcomed and briefed by Neil Wills, head of this and the RF Environment Generator (REG) test facility.  The anechoic facility allows test of aircraft systems either stand-alone or in situ for aircraft up to fighter aircraft or helicopter size, in a repeatable RF environment, shielded by 90dB or more from the external world RF.  Likewise, it shields the external world from RF emissions generated by the systems on board aircraft.  This includes testing against GPS constellations that can be replicated by transmitters in the test facility.

 

The REG is an open air facility, although set in a depression to provide some shielding of the RF emissions.  The test area is large enough to take aircraft up to A320 or Hercules size.  The objective is to test complete aircraft systems as installed in the aircraft, to measure performance in situ and interactions between systems.  Transmission antennas are placed around the test area to provide an instrumented and  repeatable RF environment from HF through to several GHz at high field strength.  Test data is collected from sensors that use optical fibre links back to the control site, so as not to disturb the electrical environment.  As you might imagine, there are stringent precautions to protect staff against physiological RF hazards.

 

The tour was completed by visits to two hangars where the aircraft are maintained and systems upgrades are fitted, for both fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft.  There was a wide range of aircraft, from basic trainers through advanced trainers (Tucano) to jets (including Hawk and Alphajet) and also a range of helicopters as operated by all the armed services.

 

The group then was taken to the Lecture Hall for the evening event.

 

Evening event: Aircraft Testing and the Brimstone Missile

The first lecture, from Gordon Slack, was on aircraft EMC, or E3 (Electromagnetic Environmental Effects), which introduced, to me at least, several new acronyms. I noted in particular HERO (Hazards of Electromagnetic Radiation to Ordnance), the relevance of which was starkly illustrated by an accident where a missile on a US aircraft carrier deck was set off, which struck another aircraft of the deck and started a fire that killed nearly 150 people and destroyed several aircraft.   



The second lecture, from Tim Marshall, concerned the Brimstone missile.  Tim had prepared the briefing with a large amount of material, including many video clips, from public sources.  There was a good question and answer session for both lectures.

 

The evening closed just after 8pm, with thanks and presentation of small gifts to both lecturers and to Qinetiq and its staff for the overall day’s events.



Blog posted on behalf of Bob Darby, Aerospace Network Executive Team member and IET host for the above events.