Supersonic transport may be a step closer to reality with the recent introduction by U.S.-based Kulite Semiconductor Products (Hall 1 Stand B158) of its KSC-2 signal conditioner. Developed in partnership with Precision Filters, KSC-2 offers an optional innovative feature, Rezcomp, which enhances measurement of high-frequency dynamic pressures in subsonic and supersonic flows.

High-frequency dynamic pressure measurements are vital to evaluating supersonic aircraft designs. These designs are built into scaled down mockups for wind tunnel tests, during which small amplitude dynamic pressures at frequencies of 100 kHz and higher must be measured. But the scaled down size of the mockups interferes with the quality of the drag reduction data, as the measuring sensor, the transducer, has a resonant frequency of its own that can mask the pressure data. Rezcomp, Kulite’s KSC-2 signal conditioner’s patent-pending, real-time, analog frequency response compensation capability, allows users to extend the bandwidth of a standard transducer by a factor of 2.5 times or more.

The KSC-2 has already proved itself in real-world applications, proving “critical to the success of our supersonic nozzle testing, as it substantially improved the data quality,” said Dr. Nick Tiliakos, chief engineer at Innoveering, which provides precision engineering services. “It mitigated measurement noise through customer-selected filtering coupled with a very low noise power supply, and it enables the detection of far lower dynamic pressures than previously achievable.”