The 3rd Annual SmallSat Symposium | February 5th - 8th

Crystal Instruments (CI) is proud to exhibit and help support Silicon Valley’s SmallSat Symposium.  The symposium will be held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California.  This year is anticipated to be a banner year with over 800 participants expected to attend.  Organizations and companies from across the country and around the world will hear from 120 speakers focused directly on the small sat industry.

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Modal Testing Excitation Consideration

Overview
There are several modal testing methods that consider different types of excitations used. Commonly known methods include Hammer Impact testing and Modal Shaker testing. Please note that Operational Modal Analysis utilizing Ambient Excitation will not be discussed here.

Hammer impact testing uses an Impact Hammer to excite the structure under test. The impulse force applied to the structure is categorized in the broadband range excitation because it contains energy up to a certain frequency range. The hammer impact test is quick to set up and to carry out, and thus is widely used. However, it does have its limitations and there are some concerns to be considered.

Modal shaker testing utilizes a modal shaker to excite the structure under test. Users can select from a list of waveform types to excite the structure under test. This testing method is usually applied to complex or large scale structural testing. Compared to the hammer impact test, it is easier to duplicate. On the other hand, the modal shaker testing method requires more hardware (i.e., modal shaker(s), stinger, more input and output channels from the dynamic signal analyzer). This test setup requires an experienced user.

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