[Hidden-tech] Consulting Opportunity

[Calvin Swift]

We have built an airborne instrument for a government customer that operates
in the millimeter wave band that synchronizes the forward motion of the
aircraft with cross track scanning about nadir to produce an image. The
cross track scan is accommodated by means of an elliptical mirror that was
specified to rotate at a maximum rate of 600 rpm. We conducted a flight test
in November of 2010, and encountered two problems that need to be corrected.
These problems are:
 
1.    Noticeable vibration was encountered due to an unbalance introduced by
the elliptical mirror. The axes of the ellipse are 3.5² and 5.0², and the
material is Aluminum. The mirror is attached to a rotating shaft, driven by
a DC motor.

2.    As a result of cold weather encountered on the day of the flight, data
corresponding to the higher voltage outputs saturated, resulting in the loss
of that data.

We are looking for consulting assistance either from a ³super² technician or
a hands on instrumentation engineer to assist us in addressing these two
problems for preparation of further flight-testing. The scope of the work is
as follows:
 
1.    Vibration issue

a.    The consultant will partially disassemble the instrument and work with
our own engineers to assess and possibly work to correct the problem. Part
of this activity will require learning to run computer programs that send
commands to the instrument and record the data.

2.    Data saturation issue

a.    The consultant will add insulation to the receiver enclosure and add
heater strips controlled by thermistors. The consultant will work with our
engineers during the execution of this task, and possibly design a feedback
circuit to eliminate the possibility of saturation.

3.    Other work

a.    Satisfactory performance during the first two tasks will possibly lead
to further work on this project, such as building electronic calibration
hardware, operating the refurbished imager for ground-based experiments, and
participating in the flight tests.

 
Knowledge of microwave/millimeter wave systems is helpful, but not required.
Work can start immediately, and the project will last for 6 ­ 9 months.

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