Case Studies:

Agusta Westland Mannequin

RF immunity trials on the Army's Apache Helicopter involved long duration RF field testing over a wide range of frequencies and meant that the use of pilots to monitor the behaviour of the systems under test, was considered unacceptable.

Rotronics was therefore tasked with designing a mannequin to sit in the cockpit and allow a remote operator to observe the effect of high RF fields on the electronic flight control and display systems in the Apache. The unit developed has two cameras, one for general surveillance of the flight deck displays, the other to monitor helmet mounted Head Up Displays.

A pan/tilt and full camera control allows the remote operator to view the flight desk instruments and head-up display just as a pilot would. A high level of RF screening was mandated for the camera and the camera control system. For this reason, the purpose designed camera enclosure was machined from solid aluminium and RF sealed. The control system was contained within an aluminium enclosure and both it and the cameras were linked by fibre-optic to a remote Control Panel located in the Control Room.

To further ensure RF isolation the cameras and their associated control unit are battery powered via sealed lead-acid batteries mounted in the body of the mannequin.

The pictures are of the mannequin undergoing trials at the high level RF test facility at Boscome Down.