Rapid Integration Test Environment (RITE)

Overview

ICABs

Motion Base

OTW Graphics

Flight Instruments

Flight Controls

VMS Lab

Virtual Lab

RITE

Research

The Rapid Integration Test Environment (RITE) is positioned to revolutionize the vehicle design process. Developed by SimLabs, RITE reduces the design cycle by months while increasing both safety and operability and reducing costs.

Simply stated, RITE is a process that rapidly and seamlessly combines different types of data – including computational fluid dynamics (CFD) data, wind tunnel data, and flight test data--for immediate use in simulation. With RITE, high-fidelity simulation becomes an integral part of the design process. In standard vehicle development, the vehicle operator (typically, a test pilot) isn’t asked to participate in the evaluation process until the design is up to 60% solidified. With RITE, however, the pilot is involved early on, allowing him or her to evaluate the design and give vital feedback while the vehicle is still in the conceptual stage. This process saves large amounts of time and ultimately produces an optimal vehicle in terms of safety, operability, and cost.

Using VLAB to facilitate remote collaboration between design cycle groups, RITE has been applied in various situations, such as:

• incorporation of different Space Shuttle nose configurations into a piloted flight simulation within two days of proposal; and
• implementation of a tailless version of a Crew Transfer Vehicle into a piloted flight simulation within one day of proposal.

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