DATA FUSION AND HIGH-SPEED
IMAGING IN AEROSPACE
Advances in the synchronization of high-speed
video with data acquisition systems are giving
engineers new tools to optimize aircraft
// KYLE GILROY
Aerospace engineers increasingly need
to characterize multiple attributes of
high-speed events – from vibration
analysis to explosions. Traditionally,
researchers would have relied on
measurements gathered by data
acquisition (DAQ) hardware coupled with
analog sensors like strain gauges,
thermocouples, accelerometers and
potentiometers. Nowadays, high-speed
video cameras have become the
complementary tool for much of this
speed-dependent research.
Especially in recent years, high-speed
video strongly complements and heightens
the traditional characterization systems
used for analyzing fast events. For
example, aerospace engineers can better
quantify the speed of flows over an airfoil
by combining hot-wire anemometer
data with detailed images of particles in
the flow.
Despite the scientific insights made
possible by the simultaneous measurement
of video and analog sensor signals, it has
not always been easy to harmonize these
methods. The post-processing expertise
and time required to chronologically
synchronize the analog sensing and video
data have erected a significant barrier to
research organizations. Making the
problem worse, separate engineering teams
typically operate the high-speed camera
and sensor-based DAQ system, and the
“camera team” and “data team” tend to use
different analysis methods and workflows.
To overcome this problem and provide a
unified data acquisition solution, Vision
Research has implemented a direct link
between its Phantom high-speed cameras
132 SHOWCASE 2020 \\ AEROSPACETESTINGINTERNATIONAL.COM
1 // NASA has used an airto
air photographic
technology to capture
images of the interaction of
shockwaves from two
supersonic aircraft in flight
High-speed imaging
1
and popular off-the-shelf DAQ units from
National Instruments. This link allows
aerospace engineers to collect analog data
and video data simultaneously, unifying
formerly distinct data acquisition
workflows. Often referred to as data
fusion, the link also lets researchers
visualize the synchronized video and
analog data side by side within Vision
Research’s Phantom Camera Control (PCC)
software application.
KEEPING IN SYNC
When combining high-speed imaging with
DAQ methods, users set up these two
systems of measurement as they normally
would. The camera and lighting are placed
to capture high-quality images of the event
of interest. The DAQ system digitizes the
same event using analog data from the
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