128-channel system installed at Cincinnati

HGL supplied a 128-channel acquisition and real-time safety monitoring system for use in testing the F136 engine for the JSF program at Cincinnati, Ohio. This system consists of 4 32-channel Hawk acquisition units and 6 HawkEye real-time display units configured for two engineers to monitor three screens each. An overall control screen shows a summary view of alarm conditions which have occurred during the run, describing the peak amplitude observed, which mode was triggered, the engine running speed at which the peak occurred, and the duration for which the signal was above the alarm threshold.

More recently, two of the four acquisition units were transferred to an outdoor test facility at Peebles, Ohio. The remaining equipment at Cincinnati continued to operate as a 64-channel system, whilst additional real-time display units were supplied by HGL to complete the second 64-channel system at Peebles. The two 64-channel systems continued to operate for several months until the test program came to an end and the acquisition units were recombined back into a 128-channel system.

In order to assist in the analysis of the acquired data on the Cincinnati test, a Virtual Private Network (VPN) link was installed between USA and UK sites to permit vibration analysts in the UK Bristol to analyse and interrogate data sets recorded and stored in the USA. This remote data analysis and viewing capability provides almost instant access to processed data files separated from the users by 4000 miles as though they were stored locally.