Research and development are valuable resources to improve our experience. Capabilities such as sub-scaled flight testing, sustainable propulsion systems, aerodynamic analysis and structural analysis are important to us. Find out more about what we do.
Sub-scale Flight Testing (SFT) is potentially useful in predicting aircraft flight behaviour. Especially when it comes to unconventional designs for which legacy information is unavailable. Or when wind tunnel tests are unable to predict the full scope of aircraft dynamics. A necessary condition for successful sub-scale flight testing, is an accurate design of properly scaled models. Since 2012, Orange Aerospace has been conducting sub-scale flight testing.
Each air vehicle, whether it is big or small needs some kind of propulsion system to make it fly. Depending on the requirements this can be electric, hydrogen or combustion driven. In UAVs, propellers are commonly used. Off the shelf RC items aren't particularly built for efficiency, but our in-house developed variable pitch propeller is. Just like on large aircrafts the pitch will be automatically adjusted, depending on requested thrust and air speed. All these systems combined are more sustainable and thus have the ability to fly longer and more silent than systems that are comparable in weight. We are able to perform a wide range of calculations and research to optimize efficiency and power-to-weight ratio for each kind of system. By creating low investment subsystem tests, we validate our assumptions to speed up development of the entire system.
Aerodynamic analysis is used to test aircraft and UAV designs. With this analysis, a complete calculation is made of the aircraft's stability, aerodynamic speed and overall performance. With computer calculations, we measure both the external and internal flow lines through an iterative process (using VLM or CFD methods). We measure air resistance from engine casing to wing. Aerodynamic efficiency is an important measure that evaluates and assesses a design for generating aerodynamic forces and capable flight parameters. Efficiency is key in clean aviation.
To ensure that our composite products are manufactured in such a way that they meet all the requirements, structural analysis is vital. We have a lot of experience with composite structures and airframes. This enables us to identify and analyse forces in structural designs. During our design and development stages we perform FEM analyses and physical structural tests. Over the years we have executed a lot of tests from coupon tests and structural detail tests to subcomponent and full system tests. Doing this with the correct use of verification and validation enables us to perform the structural analysis process of products in a well documented and correct manner.
