Winning the Bid for CATRI's 16,000-Channel Testing System
This case analyzes our company's successful bid in October 2023 to supply a 16,000-channel strain testing system to the China Aircraft Strength Research Institute (CATRI). The project involves providing a world-class, large-scale data acquisition system for full-scale aircraft structural static and fatigue testing to a top-tier aviation research organization. The report elaborates on the project background, the excellence of the technical solution, key success factors, and the significant market and technological implications of the project, aiming to provide a reference for the company's strategic development.
1. Project Background & Overview
1. Client Background: The China Aircraft Strength Research Institute (CATRI) is a core research entity under the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC). It bears the critical responsibility of researching and validating the structural strength of national aircraft programs, playing a key role in ensuring aircraft safety and airworthiness certification.
2. Project Objective: To meet the stringent requirements for validating the next generation of large aircraft (e.g., commercial airliners, large military transport aircraft), CATRI required an ultra-large-scale, high-precision, and highly reliable data acquisition system capable of synchronously collecting tens of thousands of mechanical parameters.
3. Project Outcome: Our company successfully won the bid to supply a complete 16,000-channel SE-series strain and multi-function data acquisition system. The system’s development and delivery are scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2024.
2. Core Solution & Technical Highlights
The solution provided is not merely an assembly of hardware but a complete, highly integrated testing system.
1. System Scale & Architecture:
Large-Scale Acquisition: 16,000 physical channels with the capability to simultaneously measure various parameters such as stress/strain, displacement, load, and temperature, meeting the comprehensive needs of full-scale aircraft testing.
Parallel Multi-Task Subsystems: The system can be flexibly configured into eight independent subsystems, enabling simultaneous support for multiple different testing tasks (e.g., wing fatigue test and fuselage static test conducted in parallel). This significantly enhances the utilization efficiency of the client's valuable testing resources.
High-Precision Synchronization: Synchronization clock hubs ensure all channels acquire data with microsecond-level precision, guaranteeing the temporal consistency of the massive dataset, which is fundamental for accurate analysis of the aircraft's load-bearing and deformation.
2. Robust Hardware & Software Support:
Solid Hardware Platform: Includes 30 specialized instrument racks and 16 high-performance servers, providing a powerful physical foundation for system stability, real-time processing, and storage of massive data volumes.
Integrated Software Platform (Dynatronic): This software platform acts as the "brain" of the system, managing the entire workflow from sensor configuration and real-time monitoring to data storage and in-depth analysis. Its professional analysis software transforms vast data into intuitive cloud maps, curves, and reports, directly supporting the client's R&D decisions and airworthiness certification processes.
3. Analysis of Key Success Factors
Winning this bid was not accidental but was based on several of our company's core strengths:
Technological Leadership: The ability to provide a reliable data acquisition system exceeding 10,000 channels represents top-tier technical expertise, both domestically and globally, demonstrating our strong R&D capabilities.
System Integration Capability: The successful integration of thousands of acquisition modules, synchronization networks, computing/storage units, and software platforms, while overcoming complex engineering challenges like power distribution, cooling, and signal interference, highlights excellent systems engineering prowess.
Deep Understanding of Industry Needs: A profound comprehension of the stringent demands of aviation strength testing for data accuracy, system reliability, and long-term stability. The "parallel multi-task" design directly addresses the client's pain point of improving efficiency.
Established Brand & Track Record: Gaining the trust of a national authoritative research institute indicates that our company's brand has established a strong reputation and credibility in the high-end testing sector.
4. Project Significance & Value
Value for the Client (CATRI):
Enhanced R&D Verification Capability: Directly empowers CATRI to conduct more complex and precise full-scale aircraft tests, accelerating the development and airworthiness certification process of large domestic aircraft.
Improved Testing Efficiency: The parallel multi-task mode significantly shortens test cycles, reducing time costs.
Guaranteed Data Authority: The system's high precision and reliability ensure the authoritative nature of test data, safeguarding the safety of national aviation equipment.
Value for Our Company:
A Top-Tier Reference Case: Successfully serving CATRI acts as the "highest certification" for entering the high-end structural testing market, providing an incomparable brand promotion effect.
Ultimate Validation of Technical Capability: This project serves as the ultimate stress test for our product performance, system integration, and project delivery capabilities. Successful delivery will signify that our technical capabilities have reached the industry pinnacle.
Significant Market Spillover Effect: This case can be leveraged to penetrate other sectors requiring large-scale structural testing, such as aerospace, shipbuilding, high-speed rail, and bridge engineering, revealing immense potential market space.
5. Conclusion & Outlook
The successful bid for this project is a major achievement resulting from our company’s strategic focus on the high-end market and persistent technological innovation. It is not merely a commercial sale but a declaration of our technical strength.
Looking ahead, it is recommended that the company:
1. Ensure Flawless Delivery: Concentrate superior resources to guarantee the high-quality delivery of the project in Q1 2024, solidifying this benchmark project.
2. Deeply Mine Case Value: Systematize and standardize the successful technical solutions and project management experiences gained from this project to create replicable solutions.
3. Conduct Strategic Marketing: Using this case as a breakthrough, launch targeted marketing campaigns towards domestic and international aerospace OEMs, national key laboratories, and major infrastructure projects, transforming our technological advantage into sustained market leadership.
