Industries
ATA began as a provider of advanced analysis and test engineering services for highly engineered structures that are subject to severe dynamic loads. Our capabilities have expanded to focus on aerospace engineering services, theme park engineering, defense engineering, and spacecraft engineering.
No matter what type of project we work on, we approach it as a team of cross-functional engineers sharing knowledge with customers to increase efficiencies wherever we can. Our focus is on improving these highly engineered structures to be safer and stronger for the duration of their life cycle.
ATA’s aerospace engineering services are backed by 40 years of experience. We partner with customers not only on analysis and testing but also on the planning and development of large-scale aerospace projects. Our team approach brings together the expertise of many different engineering backgrounds. We have a reputation for shortening development cycles and sharing information between disciplines to generate new insights to help you get your design right the first time.
Our analysis and test services for launch vehicles started in the 1970s with development of the Space Shuttle, when ATA engineers were brought in to help assess vibration issues impacting the shuttle. Since then, ATA’s role in the launch vehicle community has expanded to include many aspects of design and development. We have specific expertise in predicting the structural and thermal loads on launch vehicles during launch and ascent.
ATA’s experience with liquid rocket engines has included static, thermal, and dynamic analyses as well as testing to support the design of numerous large and small rocket engines. This support has included applying boost-phase and self-induced loads as well as loads associated with the deployment mechanisms for extendible nozzles. We have also supported detailed linear and nonlinear stress analysis of components such as the combustion chamber and thermal and stress analysis of the turbopumps, including gears, rotors, and blades. ATA’s experience with solid rocket motors has included the analysis of cases and nozzles for thermal, internal pressurization, free flight, launcher interface, and transportation loads.
Throughout the lifetimes of various rocket engines, ATA has supported program decisions involving new environments, modified components, evolving program regulations, and flight anomalies. In addition, we have developed new methods for rocket engine applications through Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts. These methods include fluid-structure interactions related to engine side loads, damping of turbine and compressor blade responses, advanced computational fluid dynamics analysis of nozzles, and characterization of composite materials subject to extreme environments.
ATA is often initially called in when a spacecraft or satellite program reaches a barrier that threatens its schedule or performance. But from longer involvement with many programs, ATA has gained knowledge that has expanded our aerospace engineering services covering the entire spacecraft or satellite development process, including spacecraft or satellite design.
ATA supports development programs for military fighter jets, commercial and regional aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, and next-generation hypersonic vehicles. We perform loads analysis, cabin and external acoustic environment definition, computational fluid dynamics, aeroelastic stability prediction, and detailed stress analysis. Our test-analysis correlation services and software enable us to confidently predict flutter stability in a way that significantly reduces pilot risk. ATA performs more ground vibration tests than any other independent company, often testing up to a dozen different aircraft a year.
ATA provides defense engineering services to contractors and directly to Department of Defense agencies. Defense products are exposed to severe environments where in-field failure is not an option. ATA engineers are experts at deriving critical loads for extreme conditions and applying this loads data to drive the design. We have supported military wheeled and tracked vehicles, directed energy weapons, missiles, shipboard electronics systems, airborne sensor suites, deployable bridges, cargo aircraft, fighter jets, and unmanned aerial systems. We also have developed defense hardware and software through Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) programs with the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force.
ATA has worked with the themed entertainment industry since the 1980s. Our theme park engineering services include design, analysis, and testing of mechanical systems to ensure safe and trouble-free operation of theme park attractions. We have designed rides and robotic figures for the industry and provided independent, third-party reviews of designs for our customers. To analyze ride structures, we partner with manufacturers and operators to evaluate structural safety using various computer analysis techniques. Our testing services include troubleshooting, computer modeling for design modifications, and acceptance testing, which is done prior to putting a new attraction into fee-generating service. The scope of our testing is broad and generally includes operational performance and strain measurements.
ATA has supported manufacturers and users of computer-controlled machinery, robotics, vehicles, and mechatronic systems for many years with analysis-driven design and test services. We have extensive expertise in design, analysis, and testing of primary structures, design and analysis of complex mechanisms, and thermal analysis and design of embedded electronics and high-powered equipment. With the trend toward larger and lighter-weight systems, our expertise in the multidomain analysis of these systems has become critical to ensuring their reliable and robust operation. With the multidisciplinary knowledge and experience to work across the mechanical, controls, and systems engineering disciplines, we are able to develop superior solutions to complex electromechanical problems.
Getting consumer products ready for market is challenging due to highly competitive environments and demanding schedules. ATA has experience working with customers to efficiently address their cost-target and time-to-market issues in engineering analysis, test, design, and software. Our customers in this market range from individual inventors to large corporations. The products include consumer electronics such as cell phones, audio equipment, disk drives, medical devices, and fitness and athletic equipment. Our experienced design and analysis engineers can expand your team to help you meet short-term needs, using the best engineering software tools to complete the work on time and within budget. In addition, ATA can provide independent support through prototype unit building and testing. Occasionally, customers engage our team after quality issues are discovered on the market, and we have experience in assisting our customers in resolving these situations as well as helping to build the expertise to get it right the first time.
Severe demands are placed on industrial and mining equipment due to static, dynamic, and thermal loads. Loading mechanisms are often poorly understood and therefore haven’t been quantified in a reliable manner. ATA can resolve these problems making advanced measurements of operational loads and simulating performance to better understand design options. Our general approach can be best understood from this example: hoisting of ore, miners, and materials from deep underground mines in South Africa presents safety challenges ranging from heavy conveyances moving at high speeds to the economic impacts of shaft downtime due to operational problems. The South African mining industry approached ATA for help, and the set of criteria developed by ATA engineers eventually formed the basis for a South African design standard (SABS 0208-4). Our team can help you accurately quantify loads in order to assess the suitability of the design for its intended purpose.
See how our advanced engineering services can bring value and innovation to your project.
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