How the TSR AIR data logger is helping ensure the safe transit of high-value assets

Overview | Dayton T. Brown, an engineering and testing consultant, was asked by an aerospace customer to help solve a logistics challenge. The task was to monitor a fleet of 40-foot refrigerated shipping containers transporting satellites to a launch site across the USA. The satellites were both high-value and fragile, so the customer wanted to measure every event the cargo encountered over 2 g, and any triggers above 0.5 g.

Why DTS
Ease of Use: The TSR AIR is more advanced than other data loggers, plus the user interface is intuitive to navigate, which makes downloading data easy.

Unit-to-Unit Synchronization: Another key feature was the TSR AIR’s ability to synchronize data across multiple daisy-chained units. The trailer was a ‘clean room’ so the data needed to be collected from outside the trailer. The data loggers were daisy-chained inside the trailer and DTB engineered a single cable connection that was accessible from the outside of the container allowing the customer to get “as close to real-time data as possible.” The units can also be synchronized via IEEE 1588 PTP, IRIG or GPS. Responsive to Customer Needs: The TSR AIR originally did not feature 0.5g trigger capabilities. DTS developed and added this functionality to support the application requirements for Dayton T. Brown, Inc. and its client. To learn more about how TSR AIR is being used to solve this transportation monitoring challenge READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

You’re Invited! Oct 22-23, 2024 in Novi, Michigan at the Automotive Testing Expo North America

JOIN US IN THE DTS INNOVATION ROOM | 2 DAYS OF FOOD, FUN & DTS UPDATES!
Hours: 9:30AM – 3:30PM
Location: Garnet Room, Suburban Collection Showplace
46100 Grand River Ave. Novi, MI 48374 at Automotive Testing Expo 

SPECIAL EVENTS!
Tuesday, October 22 | Lunch
11:30 AM – 1:00 PM
Wednesday, October 23 | Brunch
10:30 AM – 12:30 PM

RSVP today and we’ll save a DTS SWAG bag for you!
Share this invite with friends and colleagues.
If you would like a private meeting with Team DTS – please RSVP to schedule.

DTS Booth #15008

Best Places to Work in Orange County 2024
Diversified Technical Systems, Inc. was recently named as one of the 2024 Best Places to Work in Orange County. The awards program was created in 2009 and is a project of the Orange County Business Journal in partnership with Workforce Research Group.

This is the fifth consecutive year DTS has been recognized for this award. This is a reflection of the company’s ongoing commitment to fostering a positive, innovative, and supportive work culture. DTS is dedicated to providing its employees with a fun and engaging work environment and one that supports professional development and work-life balance.

“Rollin White, Head of DTS, has released the following statement: ‘DTS is proud to be selected as one of Orange County’s Best Places to Work for the fifth year in a row. This honor is a direct result of our incredible employees, who are the heart of what makes DTS special. While perks like free soda are great, it’s the dedicated people who choose to come to work at DTS every day that truly make the difference.’”

The ranking of the winning organizations were released via a special section of the Orange County Business Journal’s July 2024 issue.

For more information on the survey process for the Best Places to Work in Orange County program, visit www.BestPlacestoWorkOrangeCounty.com.

Founded in 1989, Prowave has expertise in vibration monitoring & testing, data acquisition and sensors.  We are excited to work with Prowave and continue to build on our strong and longstanding relationships with automotive, aerospace, and defense customers in Taiwan.

Prowave, a professional vibration monitoring and testing software manufacturer, focuses on the diversity of testing tools and in 2019 separated their vibration testing and equipment monitoring into two departments, providing more in-depth planning and services for customers in different applications.

Welcome to Team DTS!

For more about Prowave go to www.prowavegroup.com.

Diversified Technical Systems (DTS), headquartered in Seal Beach, California, was named as one of the Best Places to Work in Southern California by Best Companies Group. Best Companies Group is an independent research firm that specializes in identifying and recognizing the best places to work all over the world.

Rollin White, President of DTS, expressed his gratitude for this recognition, stating, “At DTS, we believe that our greatest asset is our people. DTS is honored to be recognized as one of Southern California’s Best Places to Work. This recognition reflects our commitment to teamwork, which means that everyone at DTS contributed to earning this award. Plus, it also supports our company values of designing innovative products that add value to society, fostering team spirit, personal growth, and creating a positive environment.”

After 33+ years at DTS, Steve Pruitt, co-founder and Chief Sales & Business Development Officer, has retired. Steve, along with two other crash test engineers, Tim Kippen and Mike Beckage, began DTS in 1990 in an office above a garage. Today DTS is a successful global company with headquarters in Seal Beach, California and 7 technical centers around the world.

In his parting email Steve said,

“I have enjoyed working with you all over many years of crash, blast, and other testing – WorldSID, WIAMan, dosimeters and many other product developments. This is truly a great profession and industry. I can honestly say that everyone I have worked with has been dedicated to helping to make the world safer for us humans, no matter what kind of vehicle or sport we subject ourselves to. I have helped test everything from roller coasters and Olympic bobsleds, to ejection seats and stunt men to athletes and race cars to tanks to rockets and many more I can’t remember. Truly the best job ever!”

Steve, thank you for helping to create such a phenomenal company that advances human safety. You will be greatly missed, but your legacy lives on!

DTS specializes in miniature data acquisition solutions and portable data logger solutions for product development, performance validation and safety testing. DTS DAQ solutions are engineered for extreme test environments and are reliable in even the most challenging applications.

For a fourth consecutive year Diversified Technical Systems (DTS), headquartered in Seal Beach, California, was named as one of the Best Places to Work in Orange County. The awards program was created in 2009 and is a project of the Orange County Business Journal and Best Companies Group.

“DTS is honored to be recognized by our employees as one of Orange County’s Best Places to Work. The annual survey from the Orange County Business Journal recognizes the great team we have at DTS,” says Rollin White, Head of DTS. White credits a combination of great employees, great teams, and interesting projects that all make DTS one of the best places to work. “We’re all very proud because this is the fourth consecutive year DTS has been recognized as a top company,” adds White.

One of the survey participants said it best, ‘Wonderful people and great teams who enjoy their work and work-life balance. Plus working on exciting industrial-grade and high-quality products that directly help improve safety in our daily lives.’

DTS is ranked in the mid-sized company category. The awards program works to identify and honor the best places of employment in Orange County, California, benefiting the county’s economy, its workforce, and businesses. The two-part application process includes evaluating each employer’s workplace policies, practices, and demographics, which is worth approximately 25% of the total evaluation. The second part is an extensive employee survey which measures the employee experience and is worth 75% of the score.

About DTS: Diversified Technical Systems specializes in manufacturing miniature, rugged data acquisition systems and sensors for product and safety testing in extreme environments. DTS data recorders and sensors are used for testing in a variety of industries including automotive, aerospace, injury biomechanics, sports, military and defense. Founded in 1990 and headquartered in Seal Beach, California, DTS also has technical centers around the globe and is part of Vishay Precision Group, Inc. (NYSE: VPG).

Congratulations Tim on your retirement from DTS after more than three decades of vision, passion, dedication and hard work! You will be greatly missed. 

Tim, along with Mike Beckage and Steve Pruitt, co-founded DTS in 1990. From humble beginnings working out of an office above a garage, the 3 engineers developed DTS into a global success. Today DTS headquarters is based in Seal Beach, California, and has 7 technical centers around the world.

Tim officially retired in December 2022, but was presented his retirement award at the DTS annual meeting earlier this year so the entire company could be present. Mike Beckage, CTO and Steve Pruitt, Chief Business & Sales Officer, presented the plaque to Tim which says, “Thank you for building a company that has made a real difference in the lives of all of us at DTS and has no doubt saved many lives through product innovation in occupant safety.” 

Mike shared, “Thanks, Tim. I was adding up the years – 38 years together, starting with Cal Poly Pomona. I just want to add, the first 12 years at DTS could have been terrible because it could have gone south but we stuck with it. Perseverance, like I always tell people.” Mike added, “These guys paid supreme attention to detail and it worked. So we are all here today because we were able to hang together and Tim, I really appreciate your work and your friendship.”

 Tim and Mike’s friendship first began in an engineering class at Cal Poly Pomona. Mike recommended Tim for a job at Mobility Systems, as a crash test engineer, and it was there that they also Steve.

 “Testing and crashing cars sounded like a really good thing,” Kippen commented in an interview for the Cal Poly Bronco magazine. “That’s how I fell into it. It’s the most fun thing in the world to set up a really big physics experiment, think about how something is going to wreck and then just do it. We thought the industry was underserved, and that’s how we moved forward,” Tim said.

 The rest, as they say, is history.

 DTS manufactures miniature, rugged DAQ, sensors and portable data logger solutions for a variety of applications including product development, performance validation and safety testing.

“The companies we partner with, and the solutions we deliver, come from leaders in their area and are the result of careful selection,” says Carlo Florio, Customers Solution Manager at Crisel. “The companies we partner with, like DTS, guarantee best-in-class, high-quality, and reliable solutions for the Italian market. We are excited to collaborate with DTS because they provide the best innovative solutions when it comes to miniature rugged data acquisition systems (DAS), data loggers and sensors for critical testing,” adds Carlo. “DTS puts customer needs at the forefront of product development. Their focus on delivery, reliability, worldwide support, and excellent service is in line with our company values,” Carlo shares.

Founded in 1993, Crisel has achieved an excellent reputation in the reference sectors thanks to a personalized approach to meeting the needs of each customer. The successful fulfillment of their corporate mission to not just sell a product or service, but rather function as a true ‘solutions provider’ has led to contracts in the private sphere, public administration, and defense sector.

“We look forward to working together with Crisel to support many new customers and a wide range of exciting flight test applications,” concludes Jim.

As we ring in a new year, here are a few of DTS’ innovation highlights and events from 2022 – just in case you missed anything!

The NFL & DTS
The NFL mouthguard sensor program which launched in 2019, is continuing to utilize mouthguards fitted with the DTS DDR (Dynamic Data Recorder) which is vital in gathering critical head impact data that will help in the development of rule changes and equipment designed to improve player safety.

You can read more about this program in Driven by Data – The NFL Player Safety Revolution and more about the DDR, a flexible standalone 6DOF data logger, in Meet the Smallest Most Versatile 6DOF Data Logger Available.

NASA’s Artemis 1 & DTS
Talk about rugged – DTS equipment has now been around the moon and back!

What a year it’s been for both NASA and DTS. A big highlight was the Artemis 1 mission. A 25 ½ day uncrewed flight successfully went around the moon and back, then had a textbook splashdown on Dec. 11, at 12:40 ET. This text flight used the most powerful rocket in the world, known as the Space Launch System Rocket (SLS) which propelled the Orion spacecraft for the first minutes of the mission. You can read more about that in Taking the Next Leap to the Moon.

And the DTS equipment that went on this historic mission? The TSR PRO data logger. This compact data logger was embedded behind Captain Moonikin Campos’ seat (the test manikin that went on the mission). When the hatch doors closed the TSR PRO was trigged into action to record acceleration and vibration data which will help NASA better understand forces astronauts may experience on the first scheduled crewed mission of the Orion spacecraft – the Artemis 2 mission set for 2024. Read more about Artemis 1 and DTS in “To Boldly Go Where No TSR PRO Has Gone Before.”

Crash Test/Blast Test Dummy News
The WIAMan blast manikin, which was developed in partnership with DTS, the U.S. Army, and top Universities, is designed to measure vertical loads from a blast impact that comes from below the occupant. The incredible amount of data collected from the integrated DTS data acquisition system is processed by a software analysis tool called AMANDA, or Analysis of Manikin Data. AMANDA received a final stamp of approval when it was accredited by the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command on Feb. 2. Read more about this in “Blast Test Dummy Assessment Tool Receives Stamp of Accreditation.”

GM (General Motors) is aiming for a goal of a world with zero crashes and recently introduced their safety brand, Periscope, which is a more holistic approach to vehicle safety. DTS and GM have a long-standing partnership to help make the world safer. DTS data acquisition (DAQ) are designed to support crash safety. Read “GM is Boldly Aiming for a World with Zero Crashes” for more information.”

DTS Employee Happenings
DTS welcomed 11 new people onto the DTS team this year, and are proud to be named one of the best places to work in Orange County for the 3rd year in a row by Best Companies Group;

“DTS is proud to be named one of Orange County’s Best Places to work again. Our success starts with our employees, and we’re honored that they have put us on the list for the third year in a row,” said Rollin White, Head of DTS.”

And congratulations to all those who were promoted!

One intrepid group of DTS employees got together to run the 190 Mile Ragnar Race. Dubbed the “Dapper Dummies,” they completed the race in just over 33 hours. 

We have no doubt that 2023 will be an exciting year full of innovation, testing breakthroughs, and a whole lot of fun. Hope you’ll join us on the journey. If you don’t already please Follow Us on Facebook and connect with us on LinkedIn.

Here’s to a happy, prosperous and safe 2023!

DTS is excited and proud to be part of the Artemis 1 mission – take a look! Yes, that is a DTS TSR PRO shown onboard Artemis 1 – to the moon and back!

UPDATE Dec. 11, 2022: Success! After 251/2 days, the Artemis I mission made a successful splashdown on December 11, 12:40 ET in the Pacific Ocean off Mexico’s Baja California.

UPDATE Dec. 2, 2022: After successfully completing the retrograde departure burn using the main engine on the European Service Module (https://blogs.nasa.gov/artemis/), Orion is on the return journey home. The burn was one of two maneuvers needed prior to Orion’s splashdown scheduled for Dec. 11.

We are proud to announce that a DTS TSR PRO data logger is traveling beyond the moon onboard Artemis 1, to help capture vital acceleration and vibration data that can help improve astronaut safety on the upcoming crewed mission, Artemis II.

Space, the final frontier… now, as we reach further into space, exploring that “final frontier” is no longer an if, but a when. With the recent launch of Artemis 1, part of NASA’s Artemis program developed to return us to the moon and beyond, we are that much closer to glimpsing more of what is ‘out there.’

Artemis 1, crewed by a manikin, is a mission of testing new technologies. The new technologies include the Space Launch Rocket (SLS) system, the most powerful rocket in the world. According to NASA1:

The crew is expected to experience 2.5 times the force of gravity during ascent and four times the force of gravity at two different points during the planned reentry profile. Engineers will compare Artemis I flight data with previous ground-based vibration tests with the same manikin, and human subjects, to correlate performance prior to Artemis II.

To help gather this data, the manikin’s seat is outfitted with sensors designed to record acceleration and vibration data during the mission. The DTS TSR PRO data logger, which is embedded in the seat back, is triggered to record when the hatch door closes. The vital acceleration data captured by the TSR PRO will help NASA better understand what forces astronauts may experience on Artemis II, the first scheduled crewed mission of the Orion spacecraft set for 2024.

“It’s critical for us to get data from the Artemis I manikin to ensure all of the newly designed systems, coupled with an energy dampening system that the seats are mounted on, integrate together and provide the protection crew members will need in preparation for our first crewed mission on Artemis II,” said Jason Hutt, NASA lead for Orion Crew Systems Integration.

The DTS TSR PRO is a compact rugged data logger that makes it easy to measure acceleration forces in extreme test environments such as rocket launches, space flight, and splashdowns. The data logger has a built-in data recorder and sensors and is self-powered for unattended monitoring of acceleration and vibration. When the hatch door of the capsule closes it triggers the TSR PRO to begin recording to capture that key data which can help contribute to astronaut safety on future missions. 

Congratulations NASA on this historical enterprise. We can’t wait to see what’s next!

To read more about the TSR PRO & NASA’s Artemis 1 Mission go to Taking the Next Leap to the Moon.

Resources
1. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/purposeful-passenger-artemis-i-manikin-helps-prepare-for-moon-missions-with-crew