The Flying Laboratory – Multipurpose Surveillance and Observation Platform.

The Flying Laboratory is the name of the project created in Air Force Institute of Technology. Is it an autonomous system that can be used for testing avionics systems in real flying conditions as well as for surveillance or reconnaissance purposes. The Flying Laboratory enables conducting tests outside big airports, on small private airports or even in the areas with poor aviation infrastructure. Wide range of research equipment can be carried on the airplane, including in-terferometer, spectrometer, pollution measurement system, contamination measurement system, surveillance head. The system consists of specially converted and equipped light airplane (Sonex), ground mobile station, cooperating with the airplane during flight tests and special trailer for carry-ing the airplane. The data obtained during flights is not only recorded on a recorder mounted onboard of the aircraft, but is also transmitted in real time to the mobile ground station. The crew in the mobile ground platform can analyze data during the airplane’s flight, without having to wait until the plane lands. At the beginning of December 2011 the Sonex airplane was registered in the Polish Registry of Civil Aircrafts and since then has been used in several projects.