USAF Research Lab Sensors Directorate, Sensor Lab Upgrades & Additions

One of the major projects to emerge from the 2005 BRAC Commission was the concentration of AFRL Sensors Directorate facilities from three principal locations – Hanscom AFB, Rome (NY) Research Site, and Wright-Patterson AFB – to a single facility at Building 620, Wright-Patterson AFB. The Howland Company assisted Dayton-based Butt Construction Company with their bid proposal, and when they were awarded the contract in 2009, The Howland Company was retained as System Integrator for the project.

As System Integrator, The Howland Company’s role encompassed a broad range of responsibilities:

• Integrated the mission requirements of five AFRL labs into a
  single antenna range design
• Provided technical liason to user organizations
• Developed the detailed range design to achieve AFRL’s
  conceptual design
• Prepared procurement specifications for major range
  components – compact range, turntables, equipment gantry, absorber, etc.
• Reviewed construction drawings
• Monitored construction
• Reviewed test plans
• Monitored acceptance testing of major components

The Howland Company also conducted a series of measurements to validate the anechoic performance of the completed chamber before installation of the compact range reflector and feeds. By using our one-of-a-kind spherical nearfield imaging system, we were able to verify the quality of the electromagnetic environment in a fraction of the time needed for older techniques.