Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for self-testing an angle-of-attack probe comprising the steps of controlling an angular excitation of a rotary element that is rotatable about its equilibrium position according to known excitation characteristics; acquiring angular measurements relating to the rotation of the rotary element, determining a parasitic torque applied to the rotary element on the basis of the angular measurements and of the excitation characteristics; comparing at least one component of the parasitic torque with at least one predetermined threshold and detecting an operating fault in the probe when said component exceeds the predetermined threshold.

Abstract: A device is provided for checking a flow pressure measurement probe as well as a probe comprising the device. The probe includes an internal volume and at least one orifice for communication with the outside of the volume. The device includes: an acoustic transmitter and an acoustic receiver that are intended to be connected to the internal volume so that the transmitter transmits an acoustic signal that propagates in the internal volume and so that the receiver picks up an observed acoustic signal; and, means for comparing the observed signal with a reference signal. The device may be a stand-alone device or may be integrated into the probe.

Abstract: A device for characterizing the nature of an aerodynamic stream along a wall, the device including multiple temperature-sensitive optical nodes of Bragg grating type distributed along an optical fiber. The device determining the variations in speed of the aerodynamic stream. The nodes are distributed along a fiber placed substantially following the route of a streamline, and the device processing so as to differentiate the temporal and spatial characteristics of the signals of thermal flowrate among the nodes.

Abstract: A monitoring device for monitoring a plurality of microactuators includes an optical fiber with a plurality of sensors, each sensor being placed close to a microactuator and having optical properties varying as a function of at least one environmental parameter, the monitoring device also including a polling device with at least one transmitter/receiver for a fiber optic network, and processing means capable of modulating the frequency of the optical signal transmitted by the transmitter to select the sensor close to a given microactuator, and of comparing the received optical signal with a template characteristic of the correct operation of the microactuator, and of generating a resultant signal, representative of the correct operation of the monitored microactuator. The invention has applications in the field of health monitoring of vehicles, notably of aircraft.

Abstract: The subject of the invention is a device for managing configuration and for managing maintenance of apparatus. It relates to a device for managing configuration and maintenance of a number N of items of apparatus EQi integrated into a system, i denoting an identification index for the apparatus EQi and lying between 2 and N. The system includes a main computer RC. The apparatus EQi exchanges data with the main computer RC through a communication network. The apparatus EQi being able to be integrated into the system or to be removed from the system. According to the invention, the device includes at least one data concentrator C, N radio tags ETi, each tag ETi is fixed securely to the apparatus EQi, a number M of communication nodes Nj, where j denotes an identification index for the communication node Nj, j lies between 2 and M, M is less than or equal to N.

Abstract: A device for characterizing the nature of an aerodynamic stream along a wall, the device including multiple temperature-sensitive optical nodes of Bragg grating type distributed along an optical fiber, and means for determining the variations in speed of the aerodynamic stream. The nodes are distributed along a fiber placed substantially following the route of a streamline, and processing means are devised so as to differentiate the temporal and spatial characteristics of the signals of thermal flowrate among the nodes.

Abstract: A device is provided for checking a flow pressure measurement probe as well as a probe comprising the device. The probe includes an internal volume and at least one orifice for communication with the outside of the volume. The device includes: an acoustic transmitter and an acoustic receiver that are intended to be connected to the internal volume so that the transmitter transmits an acoustic signal that propagates in the internal volume and so that the receiver picks up an observed acoustic signal; and, means for comparing the observed signal with a reference signal. The device may be a stand-alone device or may be integrated into the probe.

Abstract: A monitoring device for monitoring a plurality of microactuators includes an optical fibre with a plurality of sensors, each sensor being placed close to a microactuator and having optical properties varying as a function of at least one environmental parameter, the monitoring device also including a polling device with at least one transmitter/receiver for a fibre optic network, and processing means capable of modulating the frequency of the optical signal transmitted by the transmitter to select the sensor close to a given microactuator, and of comparing the received optical signal with a template characteristic of the correct operation of the microactuator, and of generating a resultant signal, representative of the correct operation of the monitored microactuator. The invention has applications in the field of health monitoring of vehicles, notably of aircraft.

Abstract: The object of the invention is to allow exhaustive knowledge of the previously marked contents of an air transport means. The invention thus consists of a system for identifying and monitoring the set of the elements belonging to the content of a transport aircraft (V) allowing the user to ascertain in real time the content of said transport aircraft (V). It relies notably on the use of means of remote reading (R1,R2,R3), such as RFID readers, positioned so as to form a portal at the level of at least one of the access doors (A1,A2,A3) of the transport aircraft (V), capable of acquiring the identity of the set of the elements entering or exiting said transport aircraft (V), and it is characterized by the fact that the power supply means and the communication means used by the system according to the invention can utilize the power supply and communication networks of the aircraft (V) which are designed to operate solely when said aircraft (V) is on the ground.

Abstract: The subject of the invention is a device for managing configuration and for managing maintenance of apparatus. It relates to a device for managing configuration and maintenance of a number N of items of apparatus EQi integrated into a system, i denoting an identification index for the apparatus EQi and lying between 2 and N. The system includes a main computer RC. The apparatus EQi exchanges data with the main computer RC through a communication network. The apparatus EQi being able to be integrated into the system or to be removed from the system. According to the invention, the device includes at least one data concentrator C, N radio tags ETi, each tag ETi is fixed securely to the apparatus EQi, a number M of communication nodes Nj, where j denotes an identification index for the communication node Nj, j lies between 2 and M, M is less than or equal to N.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method of correcting the effects of aging of a measurement sensor upon turning on the sensor. It also relates to a device delivering measurements corrected for the effects of aging of the device. According to the invention, the method of correcting the effects of aging of a sensor starts by on turning on the processing unit. The absolute time information is transmitted from a satellite positioning receiver to a processing unit. The age of the sensor is determined by comparison of the date of manufacture of the sensor and the absolute time information. Corrections to be made to a sensor measurement, based on the age of the sensor and on the degradation law, are determined. The corrections are applied to the sensor measurement.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method of correcting the effects of aging of a measurement sensor upon turning on the sensor. It also relates to a device delivering measurements corrected for the effects of aging of the device. According to the invention, the method of correcting the effects of aging of a sensor starts by on turning on the processing unit. The absolute time information is transmitted from a satellite positioning receiver to a processing unit. The age of the sensor is determined by comparison of the date of manufacture of the sensor and the absolute time information. Corrections to be made to a sensor measurement, based on the age of the sensor and on the degradation law, are determined. The corrections are applied to the sensor measurement.

Abstract: The invention relates to electronic sensors comprising an electromechanical microsensor cell such as a micro-accelerometer, and it more particularly relates to the way in which the microsensor cell per se is mounted in a package that furthermore comprises a printed circuit board carrying the electronic processing circuits associated with the microsensor cell. In order to establish a non-rigid electrical connection between a conductive terminal of the board and a connection pin of the cell, a narrow strip-shaped conductive connection cut by chemical machining from a thin and flexible metal sheet (CuBe) is soldered. The strip comprises at least one circle-arc segment extending over one half-turn or three-fourths of a turn. Its resilience permits very low stiffness in all directions and therefore prevents any transmission of vibrations or shocks to the cell. The manufacture of the connections may be collective for all the connections of a sensor and for successive sensors manufactured serially.

Abstract: The invention relates to the cleaning of the inner walls of ducts carrying fluids which contain impurities. The invention is particularly applicable to the air inlet ducts of static pressure probes mounted on aircraft. More specifically, the invention proposes a device for cleaning the inner walls of a principal duct. The principal duct carries a fluid which contains impurities. The impurities are deposited on the inner walls of the principal duct. The fluid has an insufficient flow rate in the principal duct to displace the deposited impurities. The principal duct has an axis running in a direction Z. This cleaning device has a secondary duct placed inside the duct. The secondary duct carries the fluid which contains impurities which are deposited on the inner walls of the secondary duct. The secondary duct is movable with respect to the principal duct. The secondary duct has an axis running in the direction Z.

Abstract: The invention relates to electronic sensors comprising an electromechanical microsensor cell such as a micro-accelerometer, and it more particularly relates to the way in which the microsensor cell per se is mounted in a package that furthermore comprises a printed circuit board carrying the electronic processing circuits associated with the microsensor cell. In order to establish a non-rigid electrical connection between a conductive terminal of the board and a connection pin of the cell , a narrow strip-shaped conductive connection cut by chemical machining from a thin and flexible metal sheet (CuBe) is soldered. The strip comprises at least one circle-arc segment (51) extending over one half-turn or three-fourths of a turn. Its resilience permits very low stiffness in all directions and therefore prevents any transmission of vibrations or shocks to the cell. The manufacture of the connections may be collective for all the connections of a sensor and for successive sensors manufactured serially.

Abstract: A process for the preparation of a lubricating base oil including contacting a hydrocarbon feed with a catalyst in the presence of hydrogen, which catalyst includes a hydrogenation component supported on an amorphous silica-alumina carrier having a macroporosity in the range of from 5% vol to 50% vol. The hydrocarbon feed is most preferably a slack wax or a synthetic wax. The preferred catalyst for use in the process includes a combination of one or more of the metals cobalt, iron, and nickel, and one or more of the metals chromium, molybdenum, and tungsten on an amorphous silica-alumina carrier having a macroporosity in the range of from 5% vol to 50% vol.

Abstract: A motion estimator for high definition television transmission comprises a device which operates after motions have been estimated for an image (51), when the motions in a following image (53) are to be estimated. This device associates with a part (R) examined in an image (53) a group (5) of a plurality of parts of the preceding image (51) which group contains the part occupying, in the image, the same position as the examined part and likewise the adjacent parts, and investigates whether one of the nine motions determined for the nine parts of the said group (5) can be applied to the part R. If this is the case, the operation of the estimator is terminated for the part (R) examined and, moreover, the transmission of the motion for this part is then effected not by transmitting the value of the motion, but by designating that one of the parts of the group (5), the motion of which is appropriate.

Abstract: A coding arrangement which includes a coder for variable-length encoding provided with a quality control to determine the different coding characteristics, a buffer store for receiving the coded information originating from the said coder and for recovering them at an output terminal with a fixed rate thanks to the presence of a regulating circuit. The regulating circuit uses the average quality of packets of information blocks to control a filler circuit which supplies a fill quantity of the coded information. A correction circuit supplies a corrected quality value by correcting the average quality as a function of the fill quantity.

Abstract: In order to reduce the digital data throughput, the transmission system comprises means for determining, for each image, in the set of speed vectors, a subset containing the vectors which are encountered most frequently in this image, and means for digitally transmitting, once per image, the characteristics of all the vectors of this subset, and if the speed vector of an image part to be transmitted is an element of the subset, it is defined by reference to the subset, while, if it is not an element of the subset, another transmission mode is used for the current image part, being a mode in which the speed vector is not used, but in which the analog video data are transmitted with a lower spatial definition but with a higher frame rate.

Abstract: A motion estimator for high definition television transmission comprises a device which operates after motions have been estimated for an image (51), when the motions in a following image (53) are to be estimated. This device associates with a part (R) examined in an image (53) a group (5) of a plurality of parts of the preceding image (51) which group contains the part occupying, in the image, the same position as the examined part and likewise the adjacent parts, and investigates whether one of the nine motions determined for the nine parts of the said group (5) can be applied to the part R. If this is the case, the operation of the estimator is terminated for the part (R) examined and, moreover, the transmission of the motion for this part is then effected not by transmitting the value of the motion, but by designating that one of the parts of the group (5), the motion of which is appropriate.