Field Testing

An important aspect of our research and development efforts at Areté Associates is the ability to test new ideas and systems in the field. We have extensive experience and expertise across the company in organizing, manning, and completing field tests. Our field tests are designed to provide proof-of-concept testing, S&T development support, in-situ validation of system(s) performance, and system demonstrations. This multi-disciplinary approach often includes collection of environmental and system(s) performance data from a wide variety of interesting and challenging environments. Field testing is an integral part of our R&D efforts across the company, which is somewhat unique for a company of our size. This provides each division with opportunities to contribute to those endeavors, and these capabilities are often sought by sponsors in their own right.

A focus for stressing or large scale testing requirements resides in Areté’s Field Measurements Group (FMG) which provides customized testing solutions. FMG scientists and engineers have extensive experience in all phases of field testing from test design through test execution, instrument development for the measurement of the main parameter(s) through instrument development to support background measurements, and subsequent data analysis. The group’s strong background in the modeling and measurement of maritime phenomena and their manifestations on a wide range of sensors is complemented by extensive experience in the analysis, real-time assessment, and long term management of field data. The FMG and other groups within Areté routinely design, fabricate, and deploy a wide range of test instruments and systems. Examples include an array of remotely controlled instrumented platforms on Arctic ice floes, a jet-ski-based sensor suite for oceanographic measurements in high surf, instrumented surf sleds that remotely measure and report wave height, currents, and other parameters, and arrays of various optical, temperature, and flow sensors on submarines and other maritime platforms. The primary area of Areté’s field work is ground truth for remote sensing.

Staff members of Areté Associates have supported field testing in many locations in recent years. Among these are the following: California, Florida, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, the Arctic ice pack, the Bahamas, the Baltic Sea, England, France, Gibraltar, and Scotland.

Areté Associates is committed to excellence and professionalism in the conduct of our fieldwork, sensor system R&D, and application of physical principals to the operational environment. Our accomplishments are well documented and have been published in numerous refereed scientific and engineering journals and conference proceedings.

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