F-16/BRU-55 flight vibration data collection using digital recorders

Recently, a series of flight tests were conducted at Eglin AFB, Florida, us ing onboard, state-of-the-art digital data recorders to measure flight vibr ation data on the BRU-55 bomb rack. The instrumented bomb rack was flown on an F-16 aircraft under worst-case operational mission conditions. Tri-axia l vibration data were recorded continuously during the flights. The rant da ta were then post-processed to generate power spectral density profiles for various flight maneuvers. These data were used to develop qualification te st specification levels to replace the existing MIL-STD levels. This paper describes the use of the the digital data recorders in collecting flight vi bration data; Advantages and disadvantages of the digital recorders are dis cussed as compared to telemetry and tape recorders.