Data acquisition system developed for optimized wind tunnel study on aerospace vehicles

For accurate and optimized aerodynamic study on aerospace vehicle models in a wind tunnel, a high performance automated data acquisition (DAQ) system is required. To serve the purpose, a DAQ system integrated with model attitude control mechanism (robotic arm) has been developed at National Wind Tunnel Facility (NWTF), IIT Kanpur (India). The system has been developed using virtual instrumentation (LabVIEW) technique and PXI architecture which enhance the productivity and lower the cost through easy-to-integrate LabVIEW software and PXI modular hardware. This paper presents the implementation aspects of the developed DAQ system along with the system application example for optimized wind tunnel study on an aircraft model.