Breaking the Limits of Flight Test Instrumentation with the microMA
Norcross, GA –
Flight test engineers face recurring challenges: limited installation space, wiring complexity, lack of power sources, and the need for fast, adaptative and reversible setups. Traditional acquisition systems often fall short when having to deal with such constraints. This article presents a new modular, wireless approach to instrumentation, illustrated by real-world use cases ranging from troubleshooting to predictive maintenance.
The Daily Pain of FTI Engineers
The aerospace industry is more data-driven than ever. Development programs, certification campaigns, and in-service investigations all rely on the ability to capture accurately measurements across multiple domains—temperature, vibration, pressure, or structural stress. Advanced analytics and artificial intelligence promise deeper insights, but one reality remains: “No data, no AI.”
Yet acquiring this data with required accuracy is rarely straightforward. Measurement points are often buried in inaccessible parts of the aircraft, such as engine pylons, wingtips, or landing gears. Installing sensors and acquisition systems in these locations is complicated, especially when no dedicated space, wiring, or power provisions exist.
Traditional instrumentation systems also bring drawbacks. Their size, shape, and wiring add weight, complexity, and installation time. They risk altering the behavior of the aircraft itself, compromising the very data they are meant to capture. In many scenarios, test engineers must remove equipment without leaving any history of it—neither holes, adhesives, nor modifications are allowed.
Despite decades of incremental progress, most available solutions still force compromises: either compact but not modular, modular but too bulky, or wireless but lacking synchronization. In other words, engineers are asked to choose between adaptability, accuracy, and convenience —when what they really need is all three.
Why Flight Test Instrumentation Still Hurts
The paradox of today’s aerospace testing is clear: the demand for more data, faster availability, is rising—but the physical space, time, and resources available for instrumentation are shrinking.
Persistent pain points remain. Bulky systems can affect aircraft performance or distort test results. Long harnesses are heavy, difficult to install, and prone to interference. Modern aircraft offer little room for additional equipment. Temporary instrumentation must leave no trace after removal. Unlike avionics bays, most aircraft areas still lack standardized provisions for instrumentation.
Against this backdrop, the industry requires a new generation of flight test instrumentation (FTI): modular, wireless, and low SWaP (size, weight, and power).
Introducing microMA: A Modular, Wireless Answer
Last year, Safran introduced the microMA - a miniature, modular data acquisition system designed specifically for harsh and stringent test environments. With its wireless connectivity, battery-powered autonomy, and ruggedized design, microMA has quickly gained traction as a practical answer to the daily pains of instrumentation.
What sets microMA apart is its combination of compact form factors, modularity, and flexibility: its cylindrical form factor allows engineers to mount it in tight or unconventional spaces. Wireless connectivity and ultra-low power remove the complexity of cables and bulky external supplies. Accurate time synchronization guarantees data integrity, even across multiple nodes. Rugged engineering ensures resilience against vibration, temperature extremes, and EMC challenges.
One year only after its release, microMA is no longer a prototype: it is proving itself in the field through a wide range of applications.
Use Cases: Where Conventional Systems Fail – and How Modular Wireless Acquisition Solves It
1. Troubleshooting on Aircraft in Service
When an aircraft or rotorcraft faces abnormal behavior impacting operation, every minute counts. Engineers need to diagnose anomalies quickly, often without access to power sources or time to install heavy harnesses. Traditional acquisition systems are too intrusive and slow to deploy.
The microMA, a modular, wireless acquisition system, changes the equation. Lightweight and battery-powered, it can be installed directly at the measurement point with standard clamps, without drilling or making any permanent modification. Once the data is collected, the system is removed in minutes, leaving no trace.
Example: During an unexpected system fault, engineers can rapidly mount the units in tight spaces, capture precise measurements, and identify the issue—minimizing aircraft downtime and restoring service faster.
2. Final Assembly Line (FAL) Testing
Before delivery, every aircraft must undergo acceptance and quality checks. These include cabin acoustics, thermal mapping, and environmental control systems. The challenge is to ensure rigorous traceability while avoiding delays in the production process.
Here, non-intrusive instrumentation plays a vital role. The microMA, a wireless modular solution, can be configured and deployed quickly across the cabin, recording multiple parameters in parallel. Data is automatically retrieved and stored, creating a transparent record for manufacturers and customers alike.
Example: For cabin acoustic certification, lightweight units can be distributed throughout the interior, capturing synchronized sound levels to record an “acoustic signature” of the cabin without adding wiring or disrupting the production flow.
3. Extending Existing FTI
Even the most comprehensive FTI campaigns face last-minute changes. Engineers may need to instrument new points that are difficult to reach or add measurement channels without reconfiguring the entire system. Traditional solutions struggle with flexibility at this scale.
By acting as “satellite node,” the microMA, a modular wireless unit, can extend the reach of a primary system, such as an XMA/MDR-based architecture, with minimal effort. it integrates seamlessly, ensuring synchronization and compatibility with existing data formats.
Example: During a flight test campaign, engineers realize they need strain gauges measurements on a control surface. Instead of reworking the wiring, they deploy overnight wireless nodes directly on the structure, expanding coverage instantly while keeping the whole FTI system fully consistent.
4. Predictive Maintenance in Service
Beyond development and testing, the same principles apply to in-service monitoring. Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul’s (MRO) operators seek to detect anomalies early, optimize maintenance schedules, and increase fleet availability. But permanent monitoring solutions must be durable, power efficient, and with no impact on aircraft daily operations.
The microMA, a modular wireless system, designed for operating in harsh environments, logs autonomously and delivers continuous data with minimal intrusiveness. Secure connectivity ensures reliable transmission to ground systems, while on-board recording guarantees data availability. High metrological fidelity supports precise trend analysis and predictive diagnostics.
Example: Continuous shock monitoring on landing gears enables early detection of weird patterns, preventing costly unscheduled maintenance and enhancing fleet safety.
Technical Enablers behind microMA
The microMA’s success lies in the innovations that underpin it. Its cylindrical form factor, with modularity for assembling functionnalities, makes it easy to mount using standard P-clamps or brackets already available in aircraft, avoiding the need for custom mounting hardware. Battery autonomy combined with low power electronic design allows deployment even where no power sources exist. Precise time synchronization -even over wireless connectivity- and secure protocols guarantee temporal accuracy and data integrity. Rugged design ensures reliability in environments marked by vibration, temperature extremes, fluids and electromagnetic challenges.
Together, these features create a toolkit that adapts to diverse operational scenarios without sacrificing accuracy or reliability.
Beyond Aerospace: A Versatile Approach
While aerospace is the most demanding environment, similar challenges exist in other industries. Automotive crash testing, railway monitoring, or energy infrastructure inspections all require compact, low-intrusiveness, and rapidly deployable instrumentation.
The principles of modularity, wireless connectivity, and standardized interfaces allow the same solution to be applied across sectors—multiplying its impact and broadening its adoption.
A New Standard for Instrumentation
Wireless, modular, low SWaP acquisition is no longer a future vision—it is operational reality.
From troubleshooting aircraft in service to predictive maintenance across an entire fleet, the same system adapts to diverse scenarios. With microMA, Safran delivers a system that answers the real pains of instrumentation: from service troubleshooting to predictive maintenance, from production lines to extended FTI campaigns.
In an industry where every gram counts, every second matters, and every data point drives progress, modular wireless instrumentation is redefining what’s possible. Faster, smarter, and more flexible data acquisition system has arrived with the microMA—and with it, a new standard for the future of flight test instrumentation.