Students go behind the scenes at Edwards AFB

February 2009

Eleven Fulton College electrical engineering students recently had the unique opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes tour of Edwards Air Force Base in California. The group, led by Professor Michael Rice, got to see the practical application of the theories they have been studying.

Edwards is home to the Air Force Flight Test Center – where the U.S. Air Force tests most of America’s newest military aircraft.  Boeing and other airline manufacturers also use the advanced equipment at the facility to test the performance and safety specifications of their prototype airliners.

The students were especially interested in the telemetry used by the flight test center. Telemetry derives from tele-meter, or “to measure from a distance.” This ability is vital to the testing of aircraft, which in the course of their trials are often many miles from the analysts and scientists and traveling at several hundred miles per hour.

During test flights, specially designed radio transmitters broadcast signals from the aircraft back to a receiving station on the ground. These signals are then analyzed and studied by engineers and designers.

As part of their tour, the  group was taken to areas of the base that few members of the public get to see, including the aircraft modification dock, where test planes are fitted with specialized test equipment.  They also visited the Ridley Mission Control Center, the NASA Dryden Flight Test Center and the main telemetry receiving site at Edwards AFB.

More than just a one-time excursion, the learning will continue as the students returned from Edwards AFB with recorded telemetry data, which will be part of their senior project. With raw data in hand, these seniors will now extract and analyze the telemetry information and display that data in a useful format.  

Seeing this real-world application gave students a taste of the kinds of projects and problems that await them upon graduation.

“This wrapped up all of our educational experience into something useful for when we graduate,” said Emily Petersen, a senior from Saline, Mich. “From this tour I could see that our senior project is indicative of the latest industry standards.”

College News
October 2009

• Fulton College faculty honored with University Awards
• Civil engineering professor honored as ITE Outstanding Transportation Educator
• BYU engineering project leads to sustainable structures for Mozambicans
• Graduation Information