A commercial off the shelf (COTS) solution for engine simulation

Abstract

The Air Force currently has three major Automatic Test System for turboprop and jet engines the Automated Ground Engine Test Set (AGETS) Engine Test/Trim Automated System (ETTAS) second generation Engine Test/Trim Automated System (ETTAS II), and PACER COMET III (PC III). During the development and maintenance of engine software test programs used by the three systems a certain amount of on-site engine run time is required to develop, test and verify software changes. This on-site time is costly in TDY, contractor site visits, engine fuel used, man-hours and missed production time of the test cell. A real-time simulation of the engine with concurrent signals and stimulus that match test cell transducers would replace the on-site runtime needed of the engine and test cell crew. SAALC/LDAD, the engine tester program management office, has placed CACI International, Inc. on contract to produce a Real-Time, Multiple Signal, Dynamic Engine Simulator (RTMSDES) from COTS hardware and software. The program management office's goal is to develop a dynamic, real-time simultaneous set of stimuli for the engine testers mentioned above for software maintenance and development personnel. This paper details the COTS solution we are developing using, the latest VXIbus technology. Topics discussed include the methods we used to simulate the real-time stimulus of engines as well the selection of COTS hardware required to perform the stimulus. The paper also discusses our implementation of LabView 4.01 as the simulation software environment, and Windows NT as the operating system.