Capabilities
Within the ACOM Engineering Support group, we have experience developing a variety of instrumental systems, ranging from small handheld instruments to FAA certified airborne rack based systems. We have a broad background with most types of instrumentation and sensors used in the atmospheric sciences - mass spectrometers, particle counters, optical remote sensing, REA sample devices, etc. - as well as full rack mounted systems and sampling inlets for various aircraft. Our goal as an engineering support group is to assist anyone in the atmopspheric research community (both inside and outside NCAR) who is interested in creating a new instrument or improving an existing instrument.
Our capabilities include:
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Complete systems design and overview, from initial design stage to final design review and fabrication
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Extensive experience with Solidworks CAD and FEA software for creation of 3D CAD models, part drawings, assembly drawings, and finite element stress analysis models
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Mechanical fabrication and assembly support, with dedicated in-house fabrication at NCAR's Design and Fabrication Services facility
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Electrical systems design
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Printed circuit board design and PCB component installation using Altium Designer, Diptrace, and Express PCB software
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PIC embedded microcontroller design and fabrication using CCS C Compiler microcontroller development software
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National Instruments Labview softare for data acquisiton and system control
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Data acquisition hardware: National Instruments analog and digital I/O boards, National Instruments USB DAQ hardware, NUC/PC104 systems, Labjack USB data acquisition systems, and custom data acquisition printed circuit boards
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Creation of functional system safety assessment, systems integration, electrical systems analysis, and mechanical systems analysis documentation for Part 25 FAA certification
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Electrical wiring and electro-mechanical assembly
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Experience with numerous research aircraft: NCAR C-130, NCAR Gulfstream GV, NASA P-3, NASA GlobalHawk, NASA WB-57