STAR-GOAT replaces months of scratch-built LabVIEW DAQ and control code with a compliance-ready, hot-fire-proven platform your whole team can operate. Your engineers work on the article under test, not the software under it.
PROVEN: NASA arc jet (plasma wind tunnel) · commercial hot-fire campaigns · hypersonic ground test · automotive test cells
Your engineers could build it, and that talent is why your program will succeed. The question is allocation: should they spend the next six months on the engine, or on the plumbing under it?
Your two LabVIEW-capable engineers are also your propulsion engineers. Every month they spend writing DAQ plumbing is a month not spent on the engine, while homegrown code gets its shakedown during live tests.
Compliance documentation from scratch routinely costs person-years, and an audit finding can stop a program. STAR-GOAT's compliance package is grounded in a delivered Class C system at NASA Ames, which is the kind of evidence that survives procurement.
Test windows on hypersonic infrastructure are scarce and booked months out. A data loss or control fault forfeits a window that takes months to rebook. STAR-GOAT is already deployed on a U.S. hypersonic test range.
Tunnel occupancy is sold by the hour, and a data fault invalidates a run your customer paid for. Multi-tunnel sites carry the pain N times over: N aging bespoke systems, N key-person dependencies. Standardize on one platform, one operator pipeline, one data format. Proven at wind-tunnel class on NASA's arc jet, a plasma wind tunnel.
Operator stations and the real-time controller are separate by design, with an independent abort path that no UI can stall. This is the first thing a senior test engineer looks for, and the reason first-version scratch builds fail during hot fires.
Operators work at safe standoff distance, up to five remote clients per system over NI Network Streams, while the control loop runs deterministically on Windows or Linux RT, immune to anything happening in a UI.
Dual-band alarm thresholds and RT automatic abort run on their own monitoring path. FFT-based resonance detection catches the failure mode that destroys articles before a human can react.
Conditional, nested sequences execute at millisecond rates on RT, authored and reviewed in configuration rather than buried in code only one engineer understands.
Full-rate TDMS logging with automatic rollover, plus event, alert, and error logs: the record you need when a customer or an auditor challenges a run.
DAQmx, XNET/CAN, OPC UA, and Modbus natively, with a validated plug-in path for custom acquisition. It is the same path our automotive deployment exercises. No rip and replace.
A full data acquisition system upgrade for NASA's arc jet complex: high-enthalpy flow over instrumented articles, synchronous high-channel-count acquisition, and complete NPR 7150.2D Class C compliance. Wind-tunnel-class work, delivered and in service.
Astra runs its engine test program on STAR-GOAT: high-speed acquisition, deterministic control sequences, and instrumentation changes turned around without losing test days to software troubleshooting.
Extreme-rate acquisition and real-time control on ground test infrastructure where security requirements narrow the vendor field and a forfeited window takes months to rebook.
The same core platform, exercised through its XNET/CAN acquisition path in automotive test cells. Proof the architecture generalizes beyond aerospace without touching the core.
“JKI’s STAR-GOAT software has been an ideal choice for our engine test stand. Its reliability, scalability, and intuitive interface enable us to operate the entire stand with confidence while making instrumentation and control changes quickly and efficiently, without losing valuable time troubleshooting control software.”Colin McDonald · Manager of Test Engineering, Astra
Written proof is a start. Where our customers permit it, we arrange 30-minute engineer-to-engineer reference calls under NDA as part of a standard evaluation. Ask us what is possible for your segment.
Choose by what your program is doing, not by comparing rows. Channel counts and rates are configured inside each tier.
Component rigs, subscale articles, and lab-bench test cells getting rigorous data without a software project.
Development engines and active test campaigns where a lost test day has a real price and configurations change weekly.
Qualification campaigns, flight hardware, and NPR 7150.2-obligated facilities where compliance evidence is the differentiator.
Fixed scope, fixed fee: installed, your P&ID configured, abort logic reviewed, crew trained, first sequence executed. In 30 days.
NPR 7150.2 Class C/D artifacts and process, grounded in the Ames delivery. Available with STAR-GOAT or standalone for existing LabVIEW systems.
Compliance Package detailsPriority live-window support, annual system health check, pre-campaign configuration review, and compliance documentation updates.
Standardize every stand or tunnel on one platform: one operator pipeline, one data format, one maintenance contract, with a pre-agreed expansion path.
Pricing follows your readiness review. Every quote is scoped against your channel map, control requirements, compliance obligations, and what a lost test day actually costs your program. We do not publish a rate card. All packages are available with perpetual licensing.
A free, 45-minute structured working session with a JKI test engineer. This is not a sales demo: you leave with an honest read on your build-vs-buy math and your compliance exposure, whether or not you buy anything.