The future of flight is electric. But to get there, the aerospace industry must overcome one of its most complex challenges to date: how to develop and certify increasingly intricate electrical systems in aircraft.
Whether it’s a wide-body jet or a battery-powered eVTOL, aircraft today rely more than ever on extensive and interdependent electrical networks. As these electric and hybrid-electric systems move from prototypes to production, they need to meet even greater demands to adhere to rigorous safety and certification standards.
Validating those networks under real-world conditions is where copper bird testing becomes the new runway for certification success.
Rapidly regarded as the backbone of aerospace electrification validation, copper bird testing is now a required part of the certification journey across traditional jets, emerging electric aircraft, and the industry’s suppliers.
Let’s take a closer look at copper bird testing in more detail – and how HBK’s scalable, real-time DAQ systems are already empowering aerospace innovators with copper bird testing geared towards every stage of development and certification.
Forget flying – copper bird testing begins long before an aircraft ever leaves the hangar.
Copper bird testing simulates an aircraft’s electrical systems on the ground in a controlled, full-scale test setup. All major components – including generators, converters, distribution cables, and end loads – are installed and wired exactly as they would be in the aircraft.
This setup allows engineers to replicate operational flight scenarios, stress-test the system, and observe how the electrical network performs under realistic or extreme conditions.
Scenarios often mirror field incidents, regulatory requirements (such as FAA Part 25 and Part 33), or established standards like DO-160 power quality, which outlines how aircraft systems must behave under environmental and electrical conditions like lightning strikes, power losses, and electrical transients.
What makes copper bird testing invaluable is its ability to:
These tests are often complex. Many setups involve 500+ channels of data collection at high speed. Some involve even more.
Copper bird testing isn’t just for cutting-edge programs. It’s a critical part of validation for:
The concept of separate power card and mainframe enables the remote probe closer proximity to the measurement object, thus reducing high-voltage cable length. This ensures any EMC is minimised while fibre optical cables enable fast, EMC-free and safe data transfer to the mainframe.
With a new family of fibre-optically isolated probes - available in 4 and 8 power channel packages and sample rates up to 20 MS/s - these probes are engineered for unrivalled accuracy.
Before any aircraft can enter commercial service, it must meet a wide range of certification requirements. For electric and hybrid-electric aircraft, these requirements are constantly evolving – but still grounded in long-established standards:
These regulations cover everything from total harmonic distortion (THD) and voltage transients to electromagnetic interference (EMI) and fault tolerance. For engineers, proving compliance requires detailed, traceable data.
Without a robust and flexible test setup, meeting these requirements can delay certification and increase program risk.
Here are some of the ways copper bird testing, combined with HBK’s DAQ solutions, can make reliable tests a reality for aerospace innovators:
Modern aircraft contain hundreds of electrically active nodes – each a potential source of failure or power disturbance. Validating the interaction between all these nodes during every flight phase is a daunting task – and a major engineering hurdle at scale.
HBK’s DAQ platforms support 500+ synchronised measurement channels – capable of scaling to 1,200+ channels – giving engineers the power to monitor and analyse voltage and currents at every node. This is especially critical when multiple devices share a common power bus or when downstream loads affect upstream quality.
By enabling real-time, high-speed acquisition and long-duration recording, HBK makes it possible to capture the full behaviour of complex networks under realistic conditions.
In one copper bird test, a major OEM used HBK’s solution to simulate a full flight with 1,200 channels of synchronised data. The system captured real-time responses across 700 current and 500 voltage nodes, providing on-the-fly analysis of harmonic behaviour to help identify areas of concern before flight testing even began.
Power quality is central to aerospace certification. Aircraft electrical systems must maintain clean, stable power across all operational scenarios.
Standards like DO-160 set strict performance standards for THD, flicker, voltage drop, and other disturbances. These ensure that everything from avionics to propulsion systems operates without disruption under load.
HBK simplifies this with real-time calculations of power quality metrics, integrated directly within the DAQ system. Engineers can analyse THD, detect voltage sags, and monitor transient behaviour during the test on a half cycle basis– not hours later, post-processing or with separate equipment. This lets them identify failure points instantly and repeat tests with precise control and lower cost.
This is particularly helpful for tests where conditions change quickly, or when flight-like loads (such as simultaneous cabin systems and propulsion) stress the system.
Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) is a constant concern in high-voltage electrical systems. EMC becomes more difficult as systems grow more powerful and more densely packed. In traditional test setups, noise and interference can corrupt data and delay analysis, leading to misdiagnosis, failed certifications, or untraceable anomalies.
That’s why HBK developed Fusion Probes – high-voltage probes designed specifically for aerospace environments. These probes offer:
In test benches with high-voltage switching devices and complex grounding topologies, Fusion Probes help engineers trust their data and avoid chasing phantom faults.
Electric aircrafts add a new layer of complexity to certification. Within electric propulsion systems, high-voltage DC buses, distributed electric motors, and battery systems all introduce additional failure modes – and very different harmonic profiles compared to traditional aircrafts.
HBK supports these scenarios with DAQ systems that allow:
One electric aircraft developer used HBK’s DAQ to simulate motor faults, battery anomalies, and unexpected load conditions across six electric propulsion units. With all six units running on dynamometers, engineers could inject faults and record full flight sequences – complete with synchronised electrical and CAN bus data – to prepare for certification.
Understand each and every electrical test area for Aerospace Electrification and how HBK electric power testing products can help you.
The future of aerospace certification demands smarter tools and more scalable systems. HBK delivers both, with a platform built for the changing face of aerospace:
As aircraft become more electric, certification standards will continue to evolve. Copper bird testing offers the most robust, repeatable, and insightful way to de-risk electrification programs – and meet the demands of DO-160, FAA Parts 25 and 33, and more.
By capturing raw data across the entire system, aerospace innovators using HBK’s DAQ solutions are already preparing for what’s next. From traditional jets to eVTOL pioneers to supply chain innovators, HBK enables smarter, faster, and more confident electrical validation.
Talk to an expert today to explore how copper bird testing with HBK can support your aircraft certification journey.
This will bring together HBM, Brüel & Kjær, nCode, ReliaSoft, and Discom brands, helping you innovate faster for a cleaner, healthier, and more productive world.
This will bring together HBM, Brüel & Kjær, nCode, ReliaSoft, and Discom brands, helping you innovate faster for a cleaner, healthier, and more productive world.
This will bring together HBM, Brüel & Kjær, nCode, ReliaSoft, and Discom brands, helping you innovate faster for a cleaner, healthier, and more productive world.
This will bring together HBM, Brüel & Kjær, nCode, ReliaSoft, and Discom brands, helping you innovate faster for a cleaner, healthier, and more productive world.
This will bring together HBM, Brüel & Kjær, nCode, ReliaSoft, and Discom brands, helping you innovate faster for a cleaner, healthier, and more productive world.
This will bring together HBM, Brüel & Kjær, nCode, ReliaSoft, MicroStrain and Discom brands, helping you innovate faster for a cleaner, healthier, and more productive world.
