SWG RED
Unique noise, vibration, and shock problems require custom solutions.

With over 30 years of diverse project experience, our team provides the expertise needed to understand, analyze, and resolve your noise and vibration problems.

  • Architecture
  • Automobiles
  • Aviation and aircraft
  • Food processing
  • Guidance systems
  • Manufacturing
  • Medical
  • Military, marine, ground, and air vehicles
  • Missile and launch vehicles
  • Racing
  • Space
  • Sports

Our team has worked on some of the most extreme noise, acoustic, vibration, and shock-mitigation problems. We have developed solutions for marine vehicles (submarines and surface ships), ground vehicles (Humvees), airborne vehicles (helicopters and aircraft), space applications (orbital satellites and launch vehicles), and facilities (hospitals and health care centers).

We have experience designing airdrop systems for efficiency and reuse, gun mounts to protect electronics aboard helicopters, improved air filters for ground vehicles that optimize receiving vibrations, enclosures and mounts to keep shipboard electronics safe and working after blasts, and components for critical command-and-control vehicles, to name a few.

Vibration Abating

NASA funded research to develop vibration reducing system for high-stability communications.

Robust Isolation for Vibration Abating (RIVA)

Our team is working to demonstrate the feasibility of developing Robust Isolation for Vibration Abating (RIVA), suitable for integration in an optical transceiver, to reject high frequency base disturbance by at least 50 dB. The proposed RIVA will have integrated launch locks and latching mechanism with a robust performance. Specifically, RIVA will be applicable to long-range optical telecommunications.

RIVA will reduce angular errors from vibration on low mass, high performance, laser beam control assemblies. While this project is focused on space version of RIVA, eventually, our solution will have two additional variants designed for a particular operating condition and platform, i.e., Ground and Air. It will meet qualifications of extreme shock and vibration attenuation during non-operating period and mitigates high-frequency vibrations during laser operations while minimizing its weight meet requirements. The SWG RED innovative solution offers low size, weight, and power (SWaP) with improved efficiency, reliability, and robustness as related to its function, high-frequency isolation.

NASA Data Overview

Azimuth Mirror Assembly

Updated assembly is effective on long and short-range satellite communication

Adaptable Communication Isolation Device

SWG RED is developing an innovative passive isolator for the reduction of jitter transferred to PCS from host satellites. Adaptable Communication Isolation Device (ACID) is a dual-function isolation unit for reducing orbital jitters to PCS while internally protecting the unit from high loads during launch. ACID utilizes proprietary space-qualified elastomeric formulas and deployed upon NASA spacecrafts. A variant device, ACIDAR, addresses rotational disturbance suppression. With the conversion from RF to optical communication, technology advancements are essential for ensuring high stability of the pointing control systems (PCS) to align satellite communication units. Jitters originating from essential satellite subsystems will be transferred to PCS through satellite structural elements. The transferred jitters will degrade the stability of PCS and ultimately affect satellite communication performance.

Proposal Overview

Noise Map

By sampling noise maps potential problem areas are identified

Smart Elastic Pacer Technology

The SWG ReD team is developing a Smart Elastic Racer Technology (SEPT) to reduce airframe noise during takeoff and landing. The development of SEPT will occur through soft prototyping, scaled laboratory testing in a wind tunnel, and hard prototype.
Airframe noise is defined as the noise generated due to structural vibrations as it travels through air. The impact of aircraft noise on communities around airports is the predominant limiting factor on the growth of the nation’s air transportation system. Reductions in aircraft noise during takeoff and landing could lead to wider community acceptance, lower airline operating costs where noise quotas are employed, and increased potential for air traffic growth on a global scale. Consistently, the largest contributing factors to this phenomenon are airplane flaps and landing gear.

Proposal Overview

SHOCK-Honeycomb

By using our system that includes reusable materials, the military saves time, money, and resources.

Solutions for Aerial Delivery

Military personnel require aerial delivery systems that are lightweight, modular, and reusable. The current wood platforms are susceptible to the environment, are heavy, and are often destroyed after a single drop. The ShockTech ReD solution includes replacement of cardboard honeycomb with our reusable SHOCK-Honeycomb, and redesigned platforms that are modular and environmentally resistant.

Our SHOCK-Honeycomb product was used to replace current cardboard honeycomb. Made from Shock Tech’s proprietary elastomer with a 99% energy-absorption rate, this highly shock-absorbent material is durable, resistant to moisture, and reusable.

Shock Tech ReD developed a unique, modular platform that incorporates composite materials, shock isolators, and topological optimization. Features include weather resistance, ease in assembly, improved energy-impact dissipation, reusability, and modular architecture to accommodate load changes.

Prototypes were Manufactured and Tested

Preliminary design of multi-layered elastomeric honeycomb.

Precursory data for various Shocktech honeycomb manufactured and tested by the ReD team at ShockTech.

Effective Enclosure

Our solution allows for fast, cost-saving equipment upgrades.

Multi-Stage Structurally Integrated Isolators

For naval ships to upgrade mission-critical hardware, current electronic enclosures need to be more effectively protected against excessive vibration and shock loads. Such isolators should not need to be reconfigured, requalified, and redesigned as electronic technologies change. The Navy needed the ability to swap hardware without requalifying isolators protecting electronic enclosures.

Shock Tech’s Multi-Stage Structurally Integrated Isolators with Upgradeable Adaptable Capabilities is an innovative solution for naval ships.

Our design protects critical shipboard equipment and allows for fast, easy component replacement and upgrades—putting an end to costly and time-consuming requalification of isolators protecting enclosures. The use of prototyping, computer simulation, and component fabrication has demonstrated conclusive results during testing.

Low-Frequency Noise

Testing found dangerous levels of noise. We prescribed a safe, cost-effective solution.

St. Luke’s Hospital Fan-Vibration Damping

Staff at St. Luke’s Hospital in Duluth, Minnesota, began experiencing physical discomfort from noise and vibration in their work environment after exhaust fans were installed on the roof.

SWG ReD collected data on site and discovered low-frequency noise in the range of 60 to 70 Hz. In general, it is low-frequency (below 100 Hz) noise that can cause physical harm to people.

We recommended an elastomeric isolation system to dampen the vibration. The system can be customized for maximum mitigation of transmission of low-frequency vibration to the roof. SWG ReD’s solution is less costly and more sensible than moving the fans to another building, as was suggested by construction engineers.

Eight ShockTech elastomeric isolators were installed between the fans and the roof. As a result, the noise level in the effected room was reduced in the range of 4 to 12 dBA, up to 19 dBC. In terms of vibration reduction across isolators, up to 98% vibration reduction was achieved. These reductions were considered noteworthy.

Installed Isolators Reduce Vibration