Welcome to a new series of posts on the topic of test and certification. This post is by Graham Andrews, Analysis Commercial Manager at TRaC.I've heard engineers say that the test and certification industry is dull, simply requiring the latest consumer item to be plugged into a standard test rig, but although there can be some repetition in the job, much of what we do is new, interesting and challenging.
A recent project involved testing the impressive Sampson Radar that BAE Systems Integrated System Technologies developed for HMS Dauntless, one of six new Type 45 destroyers which will provide the backbone of the UK's naval air defences for the next three decades.
The radar is a striking feature on the ship, and weighing six tonnes and measuring seven metres tall, it went way beyond the typical run of the mill testing project!
Working with BAE, we split the testing into stages. Where we could remove subsections, we conducted conventional vibration testing at our Warwick and Wimborne laboratories.
We next suspended an electrodynamic shaker suspended from a crane at BAE Systems Integrated Systems Technologies on the Isle of Wight to drive the natural frequencies of the system. Our engineers had already conducted Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to prove the testing technique. This de-risked the methodology in advance of carrying out the study. The results compared well with the predictions extracted from the Nastran software package.
We then built a bespoke test fixture for the full Radar Array, a 3m by 3m two-dimensional structure. This allowed us to test the radar in its in-service configuration whilst transmitting vibrations from one of our LDS 964 electrodynamic shakers.
At TRaC we've carried out a wide range of Modal test studies using alternative techniques, and this wasn't the first time we've used a suspended shaker. We've tested a vast range of large and complex products - one other particularly memorable project was testing a whole railway engine system! Perhaps that's a story for another post.
Images courtesy of BAE Systems Integrated System Technologies
Previous Certification & Test entries:
* Certification & Test: Electrical safety is still important!
* Certification & Test: Why bother with vibration testing?
* Certification & Test: Do I really need earthquake testing?
* Certification & Test: Differences between earthquake and vibration testing?
* Certification & Test: Safety - it's a complex business!
* Certification & Test: What's the point of a Notified Body?
* Certification & Test: The difference between Bluetooth and ZigBee testing?
* Certification & Test: Is above 1GHz the new Wild West?
* Certification & Test: Where have all the ZigBee products come from?
Working with BAE, we split the testing into stages. Where we could remove subsections, we conducted conventional vibration testing at our Warwick and Wimborne laboratories.
We next suspended an electrodynamic shaker suspended from a crane at BAE Systems Integrated Systems Technologies on the Isle of Wight to drive the natural frequencies of the system. Our engineers had already conducted Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to prove the testing technique. This de-risked the methodology in advance of carrying out the study. The results compared well with the predictions extracted from the Nastran software package.
We then built a bespoke test fixture for the full Radar Array, a 3m by 3m two-dimensional structure. This allowed us to test the radar in its in-service configuration whilst transmitting vibrations from one of our LDS 964 electrodynamic shakers.
At TRaC we've carried out a wide range of Modal test studies using alternative techniques, and this wasn't the first time we've used a suspended shaker. We've tested a vast range of large and complex products - one other particularly memorable project was testing a whole railway engine system! Perhaps that's a story for another post.
Images courtesy of BAE Systems Integrated System Technologies
Previous Certification & Test entries:
* Certification & Test: Electrical safety is still important!
* Certification & Test: Why bother with vibration testing?
* Certification & Test: Do I really need earthquake testing?
* Certification & Test: Differences between earthquake and vibration testing?
* Certification & Test: Safety - it's a complex business!
* Certification & Test: What's the point of a Notified Body?
* Certification & Test: The difference between Bluetooth and ZigBee testing?
* Certification & Test: Is above 1GHz the new Wild West?
* Certification & Test: Where have all the ZigBee products come from?
After obtaining his Bachelor's degree in engineering, Jonathan worked for a number of engineering companies prior to obtaining a teaching role at the University of Hull (England). In 1995 he joined KTL, an internationally renowned test laboratory which then became TRaC, as part of the Digital Group specialising in regulatory requirements for digital telecommunications equipment. During his time at the company he has, among other things, been appointed as Senior Protocol Engineer, and Approvals and Homologation Group Manager. Jonathan has actively participated in various technical working groups for the ZigBee Allianceâ and is currently the ZigBee Qualification Group (ZQG) Lead Technical Editor. 
Steve is Managing Director for the EMC and Safety business of TRaC and has been involved in EMC and product approvals for 19 years. In addition to the day to day running of the business, Steve is actively involved in EMC standardisation both in commercial and defence areas. In addition to being the UK Principal expert on EMC standardisation of Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) products he is also the convenor of CISPR/B/WG1 who has the responsibility of writing the International standard, CISPR 11. Steve wrote the CE marking annex to the UK's defence EMC standard as well as being co-convenor of CENELEC TC210/WG9, responsible for writing a guide on approval of military systems with commercial (CE Marking) requirements.
Joe Lomako MSc is the Business Development Manager of Telecoms and Radio at TRaC. He has been involved in the testing and compliance industry for over 15 years. Prior to joining TRaC Joe specialised in EMC, EMF Exposure and Radio compliance.
Appointed Test Manager in 2007, following three years as Projects Manager at TRaC, having previously worked as Head of Environmental Testing at another UKAS accredited test house. Over 20 years' experience of modelling, testing and measurement in the structural dynamics and seismic fields.
Chris has worked in electrical safety compliance for over 17 years. Having previously worked for BSI, he joined TRaC in 1996, progressing through a number of testing roles before becoming Safety Product Manager in 2006.
Appointed Commercial Manager - Analysis in November 2009. Prior to joining TRaC, he was the Business Development Manager at Onward Technologies, an engineering services company based in India. Graham has spent over 20 years working in the CAD / CAE domain selling both engineering services and engineering systems. 
Stephen Tait joined KTL, an internationally renowned test laboratory which then became TRaC, as part of the Telecom Group specialising in telecommunications product testing for worldwide approvals. Stephen is also responsible for the Telecoms commercial activities within the TRaC group.
Simon Barrowcliff is the Director of the ATEX Notified Body at TRaC. He set up TRaC's Lancashire-based, ATEX business in 2002 and has been heavily involved in EX testing and compliance since then. Simon also runs TRaC's certification schemes for electrical safety under the IECEE CB scheme. He is a chartered electrical engineer with more than 20 years experience of product compliance for electrical and mechanical equipment.
Appointed Managing Director in November 2007. Previously he was Test Facilities Manager for Flight Refuelling, part of the Cobham group, and spent his early career in the Environmental Engineering Department of British Aerospace at Stevenage.
Brendan was appointed Sales Director in August 2009. He joined the group in 2005 as Business Development Manager for environmental test services. Before joining TRaC he spent five years in Application Engineering and Technical Sales roles for automotive test equipment. He studied Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at Trinity College Dublin.
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