Boom Supersonic Deploys ODiSI System for XB-1 Prototype Testing to Build World’s Fastest Supersonic Jet

The last commercial supersonic flight wasmore than 16 years ago, and due tocost, safety, efficiency, and environmental sustainability challenges, airlines have not rushed to re-enter this market.But Luna customerBoom Supersonic将超音速商用空气travel back! Thecompany recently announcedthat it will roll out its XB-1 prototype on October 7 and begin test flights in 2021.

The XB-1 prototype is a 1:3 scale of its supersonic commercial jet “Overture,” which is being developed with composite aerostructures and high-temperature material systems. These materials, which have only recently been accepted by the FAA for use on commercial aircraft,will make supersonic flight more fuel efficient with a smaller noise footprint.

As part of this development work, Boom used Luna’sODiSI(the industry's only high definition fiber optic sensing solution)alongside standard foil gages on the wing skin of the XB-1 during recent static tests.

The sensor paths were designed to traverse and trace the underlyingtitanium or carbon-fiber compositewing spars, which are often referred to as the “backbone” or “skeleton” of the wing and give each wing the strength to take the bending load for lift.Each wing spar path was instrumented with an individual fiber optic sensor to measure the strain.

Small, low-profile, lightweight, high-definition fiber optic sensorsdeliver thousands of measurements on a single optical fiber.Withhigh spatial densityand the ability to measure difficult geometries and locations, these fiber optic sensors can map strain in hard-to-reach areas with high strain gradients.In addition,ODiSIcan be used to validate and calibrate modeling outputsand be easily integrated into larger test management platforms.

In addition to the hardware, Luna also provided training to the Boom team on handling and installing sensors, as well as generating an interactive, touch-to-locate map to reference the location of the fiber gages relative to their physical location on the spar paths and matching foil gage locations. Luna’s team also provided instruction on setting up theODiSIHD-FOS system for data logging and interpreting the data output.

Due to the intuitive user interface and ease of setup and use, the Boom team was able to conduct the testing and collect themultichannel HD-FOS measurementswithout much additional support. Furthermore, the flexible, lightweight and easy-to-install sensors reduce time-to-first-measurement and greatly reduce overall cost-of-test relative to implementing an all-strain-gage approach.

After the successful wing spar testing, an additional modality for sensing was quickly implemented on the vertical tail as well, due to the ODiSI’s ease of use and the collaboration and training from Luna’s engineers.

Learn moreabout HD-FOS and Luna’s ODiSI system.