The National Research Council (NRC) has designed and built a pilot-scale facility to study what is being described as a quantum leap in aerodynamic test techniques. The Ottawa-based facility is intended to help commercialize the NRC’s technology and builds on a recent licensing agreement between NRC and Toronto’s Ailios Engineering Corp. The technology represents a new generation in testing methods for very small flight vehicles by successfully measuring Reynolds Number flows — a dimensionless quantity related to the flow of a liquid. The flow diagnostic technique will be adapted to the new test environment....

In other aerospace news, NRC has signed two 20-year engine testing agreements with Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC). The first agreement will see the construction and lease of a new altitude test facility at NRC, while the second is for gas turbine testing to be provided by P&WC to NRC. P&WC will now be able to perform most of its altitude testing at a single Ottawa-based facility while providing stable, long-term funding for the NRC facilities. P&WC has exclusive use of the facility and is making significant investments. The facility includes office space, a cold air plant, an altitude test chamber and an exhauster system....