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With the addition of the Viking, GRC was able to delve deeper into its existing research areas, as well as explore new frontiers of science. The center’s cutting edge research includes in-flight icing, aircraft communication, propulsion and materials. Currently, the Viking is at the forefront of unmanned vehicle research conducting flights and experiments to support the “UAS in the NAS (National Airspace)” project. This program is establishing and testing protocols for communications, security, and safety to enable unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to safely negotiate the busy corridors of the national airspace.
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE TRLs
When you walk through the hallways and hangars of GRC, you hear a lot of talk about TRLs. What are they? Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) are a method of tracking a concept from idea to fruition. For instance, once a concept is proven as potentially viable on paper, it is classified as TRL 1. At this stage, the equations have all worked out, but the idea does not exist in the physical realm. At the other end of the spectrum, TRL 9 is the stage in which that concept has progressed to an item that can be purchased or mass-produced. To put it another way, TRL 1 would be the academic paper that proves the concept and TRL 9 is the concept, built and packaged for sale on a store shelf.
While those are the opposite ends of the TRL scale, there is a lot that happens
in between, and that is where GRC Flight Ops and the Viking come into play. On
the TRL scale, GRC Flight Operations lives between TRL 4 and TRL 6. TRL 4 is the
stage where the concept has been built into a prototype, but it has only ever
been tested in a controlled laboratory environment. TRL 6 is where the testing
is taken out of the lab and into the actual environment in which the prototype
is intended to function. Success at TRL 6 is absolutely crucial. Very few, if any,
innovations can be considered successful if they cannot operate in their
intended environment. That is exactly where GRC and the Viking come in, and
why their mission is so crucial to industry, science and to world research efforts.
The Viking’s adaptability allows it to facilitate the leap from TRL 4 to TRL 6 by getting a prototype out of the lab and into an aerospace environment where feasibility can be tested across multiple flight envelopes and conditions. Many concepts live or die on the wings (or in the bomb bay) of the Viking.
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