Second Generation Pitot Tubes To Prevent Fatal Crashes

A low-cost laser sensor that can quickly and accurately measure the velocity of commercial aircrafts could help prevent fatal aeroplane crashes, say Australian engineers.

AsianScientist (Aug. 6, 2012) – A low-cost laser sensor that can quickly and accurately measure the velocity of commercial passenger aircrafts could help prevent fatal aeroplane crashes, say Australian engineers.

Using facilities provided by the Defense Science and Technology Organization in Melbourne, researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Canberra have developed and successfully tested a proof-of-concept laser-based sensor in a high-speed wind tunnel.

“One of the problems with current velocity sensors is that they are susceptible to icing in bad weather,” said Dr Sean O’Byrne from the School of Engineering and Information Technology.

“Our technology is based on laser light, meaning there are no physical components in the airflow. Instead they are located inside the aircraft where the temperature can be controlled.”

Currently used airspeed sensors – known as Pitot tubes – have been considered possible failure points for several fatal aircraft accidents, most recently, Air France flight 447, which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in June 2009.

Accident investigators suspect that a severe storm caused the forward facing pressure holes on the Pitot tube on flight 447 to fill with ice, which prevented the pilots from receiving accurate measurements.

“Pitot tubes are simple and reliable instruments, but when they get obstructed, either by ice, dirt build-up, or by birds or insects flying into them, they don’t tell you your correct speed,” O’Byrne explained. “Then you need to rely on backup plans, like GPS, which in storm conditions may not do the job.”

According to O’Byrne, the new technology measures airspeed like a Pitot tube, but does not extend out into the air. It also has a window that can be built into a recess in the body of the plane, and which can be heated. This also means that the sensor can be kept out of the wind in sudden icing situations, he explained.

And while it’s not designed to replace the Pitot tubes entirely, the researchers say it can be used as a low-cost measure to augment the tubes, which will give flight staff more confidence in their readings and help guard against fatal crashes.

O’Byrne said the sensor – an idea that originated from the group’s work on scramjets – measures velocity by using the Doppler shift of the light absorbed by oxygen molecules,

The next step is to scale down the proof-of-concept into an aircraft-ready design and conduct flight tests, he said.

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Source: UNSW.
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