Working in the UK and internationally, we provide Ship-Air Integration (SAI) services to navies, ship and platform designers, aircraft manufacturers, and offshore operators – supporting everything from requirements capture, through to developing cutting-edge SAI technologies and providing operational advice.
Modelling and simulation
Physical testing is not only a time consuming and expensive process, but it also removes both ship and air assets from services for the duration for the trials. To reduce the financial and operational costs we’ve been helping to pioneer the use of Modelling and Simulations to develop and maintain an SAI capability. Our services include:
- Ship airwake modelling: assessing performance against design requirements, developing operational guidance, calibrating ship’s anemometers, and assessing rotor start, rotor stop ship helicopter operating limits (SHOLs)
- Downwash and jet efflux modelling: developing multi-spot operational guidance, and assessing deck coating thermal loads and performance
- Flight simulator development: generation of operational SHOLs
- Sortie generation simulation: optimisation of flight deck layout and configuration
- 3D spatial conflict modelling: hangar design and flight deck layout optimisation.
Technology development
We are at the forefront of cutting-edge SAI technologies, aimed at reducing the burden on operators, freeing them up to perform other mission-critical tasks. Examples of technologies that we developing include:
- Airwake Quiescence Prediction (AQP) system: Frazer-Nash is developing the world’s first AQP system to help unmanned air systems launch and recover from ships in challenging environmental conditions. The system works by fusing real-time wind measurements with computational fluid dynamics simulations to predict the changes in the ship’s airwake before they occur. This information can be used to minimise the risk during launch and recovery.
- Flight deck coating: we’ve helped develop thermal metal spray coatings to protect flight decks from the thermal loads caused by aircraft jet efflux.
- Sortie generation modelling: we have developed a 3D simulation tool to quantitatively analyse flight sortie generation from varying aircraft carrier designs. The tool is a finite-state-machine based model, with each agent (e.g fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft, aircraft handling equipment, weapons trollies, and deck lifts) having a level of built-in intelligence. This allows our clients to test different deck configurations and flight programmes in real-time. Find out more here.
Design and assurance
Our expertise includes:
- Aircraft tie down point design and procedures
- Flight deck design
- Ship motion test rigs
- System design audits
- Electrical system integration
- Hangar design
- Weapons handling systems.
Safety and regulation
Our expertise includes:
- Safety case development and safety assurance
- Hazard identification (HAZID) assessments
- Development of aviation arrangements in surface ships to DEF STAN 00-133.
Requirements capture
Our expertise includes:
- Flight trials plan development
- Catapult Assisted Take-Off Barrier Arrested Recovery (CATOBAR) ship specifications
- Requirements definition and management.