Floating on dark water is a bright yellow boat the size of a large killer whale.
It’s in an enormous test basin 200 metres long, and surrounded by a metal monstrosity hanging from an overhead gantry that screams to keep its position on a system of pulleys, wheels and rails. Black cabling connects the model to this metal carriage, ready to relay data from a plethora of precise onboard instrumentation to the carriage crew.
I hear a hum, then whooshing as 330 synchronised paddles push water from the sides of the basin, generating waves nearly half a meter high. Flood lights power up and enshrine the yellow boat in a luminescent glow for the live video feed, and the measurement system is activated. The boat sails away, pitching and rolling as it’s pounded by the waves, sending data to the carriage which follows closely and tracks its every move.
The carriage crew watches the model and their monitors with expert eyes. They’re on the carriage where the action is. They execute the test program and are on-hand to make critical adjustments when needed. The project manager is curious about the results which he’ll use later as fodder for lengthy client meetings and reports. Everyone is curious – the designers, model makers and the instrumentation engineers – to see how their work performs.
Up on his own in a glass-walled room that overlooks the test basin, is the model test data engineer. But he is far from disconnected with the model tests; he checks the data as it comes in, ensuring the model performs as expected and the data is sound. And when this isn’t the case, he contacts the right people and works out a solution with them. He’s a spider in the middle of an intricate, highly technical web of instrumentation, construction, testing and calibration. And sometimes catastrophe. He works quickly and accurately under pressure. He’s the calm in the eye of the storm.
Welcome to his world.
Read the full article on LinkedIn.
Paul Sterlini
