Wyle environmental engineers play role in West Coast basing of MV-22 tilt-rotor

Wyle has a played a significant role in assessing noise impacts for the West Coast basing of the military's new fleet of MV-22 Osprey tilt rotor aircraft.

Wyle supported Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) of Carpinteria, Calif. as a subcontractor on the project, helping develop the MV-22 West-Coast Basing Environmental Impact Statement, which evaluated the environmental effects associated with the proposed replacement of nine squadrons of aging CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters with up to 10 squadrons of new MV-22 tilt rotor aircraft at West Coast Marine Corps facilities.

The Department of the Navy recently issued a Record of Decision on the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the West Coast basing of the MV-22 Osprey aircraft. This clears the way for the basing to be completed as planned.

Wyle played a significant role in this effort through the development and application of advanced noise modeling tools that account for the flight and performance characteristics of tilt rotor vehicle technology. Wyle engineers worked closely with the U.S. Marine Corps to develop MV-22 operational and flight profile attributes and applied the Wyle Rotorcraft Noise Model to better assess the noise effects of tilt rotor operations.

"This project demonstrates how advances in modeling technology can help address the unique characteristics and challenges of advanced vehicle platforms such as the MV-22 aircraft in a manner that is responsive to National Environmental Policy Act requirements," said Joe Czech, Wyle's program manager.

The Rotorcraft Noise Model was developed by Wyle to address a need for the accurate prediction and assessment of community noise impacts from conventional rotary wing vehicles and tilt rotor aircraft for DoD regulatory compliance with National Environmental Policy Act and base planning requirements.

The acoustic signatures of rotorcraft and tilt rotor aircraft are complex and their unique operational profiles necessitate expanded noise prediction capabilities, which the Rotorcraft Noise Model provides. The Rotorcraft Noise Model is a physics-based propagation model which utilizes empirical noise source characteristics to perform a time-based simulation of the acoustic environment from helicopter and tilt rotor operations considering realistic terrain and atmospheric conditions.

Wyle staff computed cumulative noise footprints of the MV-22 and other rotary-wing aircraft and combined those results with noise footprints of fixed-wing aircraft such as the F/A-18 Hornet for several alternatives involving Marine Corps air stations in Miramar, Calif. and MCAS Yuma, Arizona.

The Rotorcraft Noise Model output also aided in the prediction of noise exposure resulting from MV-22 operations in Special Use Airspace and the computation of supplemental noise metrics to assess potential community impacts in terms of speech interference and sleep disturbance.

Wyle continues to play an integral role in assessing the environmental effects of next-generation vehicles both in support of the vital mission of the U.S. military, as well as the environmental sustainability of the National Airspace System under the NextGen initiative.

"We are proud to continue serving our customers and partners with state-of-the art environmental modeling and analysis solutions," said Jawad Rachami, Wyle's director of operations for the Research and Consulting unit. "The technical expertise and innovative skills of our staff allow us to address complex environmental analysis needs through both the development and application of advanced models like Rotorcraft Noise Model."

Source: Wyle