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Engineering Case Study – Red Bull Air Race

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Requirement

  • Produce a navigation system that provided RTK precision with roll, pitch and heading at 20Hz
  • The output data would be broadcast from Mike Mangold’s Zivko Edge 540 aerobatics plane in the Red Bull World Series Abu Dhabi race in March, 2006 to overlay a real race over a virtual image of previous practice and competition runs
  • The hardware had to weigh under 1kg, operate to 12G and withstand 20G whilst qualifying for an airworthiness certificate

Solution

  • We commenced flight testing in January, 2006 at St. Neots Airfield in Cambridgeshire
  • We worked with NovAtel who modified the firmware to operate at 12G instead of 2G.
  • Working with Pi Research (now Cosworth) and an aerobatics team we tested the system constantly over a three week period
  • The end result enabled us to generate a 12G INS system that gave decimetre in-flight performance and weighed less than 1Kg when housed
  • The GPS equipment was housed in a light metal CPUpak case specially designed for strength and weight whilst the IMU was housed in a Forsberg lightweight magnesium housing
  • Data was displayed in special F1 style display software showing roll rates, accelerations, position, speed all projected over a virtual 3D-view of Abu Dhabi