“Moving Mountains” To Increase Efficiency In Ground Collision Avoidance Testing

Ms. Rebecca Mitchell, United States Air Force Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California, USA

Abstract

This paper discusses how a test team developed a method to “move mountains” while testing the F-16 Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (AGCAS). When test-specific hardware enabling historical safety buffers was unavailable, the team developed a novel flight test method of loading digital mountains on the aircraft map for flight over low, flat terrain.

This permitted AGCAS to be tested during straight-and-level flight towards a simulated mountain, versus diving at artificial terrain. This method increased program efficiency, maintained test safety, and created a more operationally-representative test.