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- LabVIEW 2® Used to Test Nemesis Air Racer
-
- Contact:
- National Instruments Corporation
- Roxanne Wied
- 6504 Bridge Point Parkway
- Austin, TX 78730-5039
- (512) 794-0100
- NI.PUB
- Austin, TX--26-Jun-91:The Nemesis Formula 1 Air Racing Team announced it will
- begin the first flight test program on its new, all-composite racer. The test
- program will commence later this month in Mojave, CA. The Nemesis team is
- using a test program based on a Macintosh II computer, LabVIEW 2 graphical
- software and plug-in data acquisition boards from National Instruments
- Corporation, and a 68040 accelerator board from Fusion Data Systems. The
- Nemesis racer was first unveiled to the public April 13, 1991, in the 3M booth
- at the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering
- convention in San Diego, CA.
-
- Revolutionary in its construction, the Nemesis is built entirely of tooled,
- pressure-molded, carbon reinforced plastics. Macintosh CAD and engineering
- software was used extensively in its design and development. It is the first
- air racer in history to use tools, materials, and techniques this
- sophisticated. The aircraft has a 22-ft wingspan and is designed for ± 12 gs.
- The use of advanced carbon composites produces a very high-strength, but
- lightweight plane. The Nemesis, including engine and fuel, weighs near the
- 500-lb minimum specified in the racing class rules. The composite fabrication
- techniques used by the team also allowed for an extremely short construction
- time. The aircraft was designed and created in a little over 12 months at the
- Nemesis Air Racing facilities in Mojave, CA.
-
- The flight test program promises to be no less sophisticated, as the team has
- the support of National Instruments and Fusion Data Systems for their data
- acquisition and analysis needs. Flight test data will be recorded on a
- solid-state data logging device. In addition, onboard video cameras will
- record the flight. After the flight, the data will be analyzed and displayed in
- real time using LabVIEW 2. Using the LabVIEW custom window capability, the
- video from the flight will be displayed in a window alongside the graphical
- presentation of the flight test data.
-
- The Nemesis racer in now undergoing final preparations for the flight tests,
- and is expected to be fully operational in time for the International Formula 1
- National Championship Races, to be held in Reno, NV September 12-15, 1991. In
- addition to dominating the world of Formula 1 Air Racing for years to come,
- the Nemesis Air Racing Team is striving to break the world records for class
- C1a, 3-km, 15-km and 3-mi closed-course speeds, and absolute altitude.
-
- The Nemesis Formula 1 Air Racing Team is lead by Jon Sharp, Steve Ericson, and
- Cory Bird of Mojave, CA; and Dan Bond of Austin, TX. The team has contended
- for the National Championship every year since 1981, with wins in 1982 and
- 1986. The team won the "Fastest Qualifier" trophy in 1985, 1986, and 1989.
-
- The Nemesis Formula 1 Air Racing Team depends upon sponsorship funding from
- numerous sources. Sponsors include National Instruments, 3M Aerospace
- Materials, Renaissance Designs, International Vehicle Research, Reinhart &
- Associates, Structural Research and Analysis Corporation, McNeal-Schwindler
- Corporation, Fusion Data Systems, and Apple Computer. Sponsors provide
- financial support, engineering and scientific application software and hardware
- products for the team's Macintosh computer, and engineering services.
-
- LabVIEW is a general-purpose programming tool that has been used by engineers
- and scientists since April 1986 for developing data acquisition, data analysis,
- and instrument control applications on the Macintosh. LabVIEW 2, the compiled
- version shipping since January 1990, generates machine code that executes at
- speeds comparable to those of compiled C programs. LabVIEW 2 offers the
- significant productivity gains of a graphical programming environment without
- sacrificing the performance found in conventional languages. LabVIEW 2
- features extensive, ready-to-use libraries for data acquisition, signal
- processing, numerical analysis, data presentation, motion control, and process
- control.
-
- LabVIEW® is a registered trademark of National Instruments Corporation.
- Product names listed are trademarks of their respective manufacturers. Company
- names listed are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies.
-
- This information is provided by the product's developer or distributor and
- constitues neither an endorsement nor a recommendation by Apple Computer, Inc.
- Apple assumes no responsibility with regard to selection, performance or use of
- this product. All understandings, agreements and warranties, if any, take
- place directly between the developer and the prospective user.
-
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- 26-Jun-91
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