ATA Engineering

Considering its long-standing presence of 18 years in the market, it is no wonder that ATA Engineering is at the forefront of providing the engineering services for aerospace and defense sector, along with a strong presence in themed entertainment, robotics and controls, consumer products, and industrial and mining equipment. Based in San Diego, CA the firm specializes in modal and dynamic testing of aerospace structures. Besides, other capabilities include advanced multidisciplinary analysis, design engineering, industrial design, prototype manufacturing, and hardware and software development.

ATA Engineering, having supported testing for the U.S. military and commercial products in more than six countries across the globe, offers its services primarily in three domains— Test, Analysis, and Design. They provide engineering testing service with their portable data systems and the multidisciplinary teams of engineers, using highly sensitive instrumentations to measure, capture, process, and interpret the test data. Major private as well as government organizations including NASA and the U.S. Navy, use their engineering testing services, out of which many are patented types of tests. Moreover, their Analysis section deals with tools necessary to analyze and solve intricate and complex problems in structural, mechanical, fluid, and aerospace systems. Following a multidisciplinary approach, their cross-functional team of engineers collaborates easily with the client’s team to work in sync, and as per the requirement can perform comprehensive analysis including—acoustics analysis, kinematic and multibody dynamics, fatigue fracture and durability, optomechanical and multiphysics as well as other advanced analysis methods like CFD and FSI, Aeroelasticity and more.

A particular emphasis of the company remains on the designing services as it is the foundation for any product development cycle. Designing includes, Conceptual design—defines both the aesthetics and functionality; Detailed design—design to meet the demands of products expected life cycle; Prototype development—deriving high quality, reliable, and cost-effective prototypes; Independent design assessment—to review and approve the design documents for an organization. Additionally, being a value-added reseller (VAR) of Siemens product lifecycle management (PLM) software solutions clubbed with their rich experience of using these tools allows them to develop custom engineering software programs.

In one such instance, ATA Engineering, supported General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), developer and manufacturer of the Predator line of aircraft, a long-endurance remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) used in surveillance and reconnaissance missions, by modeling, analyzing, and testing different variants of Predator. The company performed many tasks, which included, developing detailed finite element models (FEMs) of Predator variants from CAD models, selecting optimal sensor locations for modal tests of all aircraft, performing ground vibration test on RPA to measure modes of vibration. Furthermore, they performed “whirl flutter” analysis for the Predator B, while calculating internal loads due to aerodynamic forces, and performing in-flight acceleration and control surface torque measurements. Finally, all of this allowed meeting all schedule and technical needs and providing critical flight qualification information for the aircraft.

ATA Engineering has won many accolades; one, which stands out, is the NASA’s George M. Low award, which was conferred upon them for their work supporting the Mars Science Lab (Curiosity— now celebrating its sixth year on the surface of Mars). “Our relationship with NASA is of the highest importance to us, and we look forward to many more years of providing top-quality service and innovation to help meet NASA’s ever-advancing mission,” mentioned Dr. Mary Baker, Chairman, and President of ATA Engineering. Furthermore, the company back in 2016 was selected by NASA Johnson Space Center for a five-year (2016-2021) specialized engineering, aeronautics, and manufacturing (SEAM) contract to address the engineering needs of the flight operations Directorate. The deal has further extended the company’s ongoing support to numerous NASA centers for providing engineering services.