Materials technology may be the main focus of the technology providers in the Motorsport Valley pavilion, but other aspects of technology also have a strong crossover.
One such area is testing, where links are being explored by Cambridge, UK-based Pi Research, a subsidiary of Ford Motor.
Supplier
Pi is best known as a supplier of electronics to motor racing teams - including Ford's Jaguar Formula 1 team - which uses Pi's technology to evaluate the performance of the car under testing and during the race.
The same data acquisition system is highly relevant to flight testing, says Glenn Waters, Pi Research's aerospace programme manager. A significant customer is the National Test Pilots' School (NTPS), a privately run training centre for test pilots in Mojave, California.
Variety
"Training and evaluating a test pilot is very data-intensive, and the NTPS has a wide variety of aircraft types and helicopters," says Waters. "They needed a data acquisition system that they could use across all platforms that had to be flexible, relatively cheap and available off-the-shelf."
Another growing use of Pi's technology is to monitor the ongoing health and safety of historic airframes. Pi Research has developed a system of sensors that provide a computer readout of the forces and stresses on the engine and airframe, engine emissions, fuel consumption and so on.
Investment
"Vintage aircraft such as Spitfires are worth around £1 million ($1.8 million) today so it is a worthwhile investment to monitor their performance," says Waters. UK-based Historic Flying, which has restored 12 Spitfires to date, is fitting the Pi system to all new rebuilds and adding it to existing airframes when they come up for a major overhaul.
Source: Flight Daily News