Indoor Testing Facilities available at the NASA Unmanned Autonomy Research Complex

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A large WindShaper fan array is available for dynamic low-speed and hovering flight research.  The WindShaper is ideal for generating arbitrary wind gradients and wind gusts via a simple Python API.  A companion WindProbe is also available for quick surveys of flows.  The WindProbe utilizes the lab’s OptiTrack motion capture system to extract the position and orientation of the 5-hole cone probe located on the probe tip.

Large dynamic fan array:9’x7’, 1134 fans arranged as 567 ‘wind pixels’

Wind speeds:0 to 16 m/s

Acceleration:4 m/s2,Deceleration:2.5 m/s2

Each fan is programmable via Python scripting

Replicates steady winds, gusts, and wind gradients