Novel measurement method for air-data system based on strip sensors: experimental results

We report the first experiments performed in a wind tunnel to validate a novel measurement equipment, meant to be used in the air-data system of small aircrafts. The apparatus does not rely on conventional probes, but takes advantage of capacitive, strip pressure sensors that enable a survey of the pressure gradients on portions of the aircraft surfaces. Sensors are built by printed circuit board (PCB) technologies as conformable film-like structures that can be directly applied on the aircraft skin. They can read gradients thanks to the many elementary units present in each strip. The measurement equipment employs pressure-gradient information to indirectly infer the aircraft air speed and angle of attack. In the experiments, measurements are taken in a wind tunnel using a NACA0015 model airfoil hosting a single sensor and results confirm the ability of the system to correctly detect the target quantities.