The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has received the formal delivery of a new flight instrumentation kit during SCINDICATE 2018, an event held by Defence Science and Technology (DST) in Melbourne.
Named Non-Intrusive Flight Test Instrumentation (NIFTI), the flight instrumentation kit has been designed to revolutionise the process of flight testing and evaluation.
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Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne said that the DST expects the NIFTI solution to offer increased benefits to the Australian Air Force.
Pyne said: “Conventional flight tests can be costly and involve extended periods of downtime for aircraft to be modified and fitted with various test instruments.
“This state-of-the-art wireless system has the ability to carry out in-flight tests without the need for time-consuming aircraft modifications.”
The NIFTI system consists of a single recorder equipped with a number of sensors that can be integrated on to most internal and external aircraft surfaces in order to check their operational conditions.
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By GlobalDataPyne added: “In trials, NIFTI has reduced flight test instrumentation down-time from months to days with significant cost savings to be achieved.
“This is another impressive example of an innovative technology transitioning to defence capability.”
The NIFTI solution has been built through collaboration between DST Group, the RAAF, Air Warfare Centre, and the Australian industry partner Defence Innovations.
The small, low-powered wireless system helps to reduce the need for maintaining a dedicated flight test aircraft fleet and enables testing in remote locations or locations chosen by operators.
