BLOOMY® Receives Contract for Columbia Submarine Component Test Bed

Bloomy Controls, Inc. announced it has been awarded a contract by General Dynamics Electric Boat, a business unit of General Dynamics, to provide the Flight-Critical Component Test Bed for the Columbia-class submarine. The test bed will perform certification testing for multiple flight-critical circuit card assemblies and absolute pressure transducers, which implement Electric Boat’s advanced fly-by-wire technology.

Under the contract, BLOOMY is responsible for all design, development, fabrication, testing, training, documentation, and delivery related to the mission-critical test bed. Furthermore, BLOOMY will develop the test procedures for each unit under test (UUT), helping to ensure that each UUT is ready for its flight-critical mission.

“The BLOOMY team is pleased to provide the test bed for certifying the flight-critical components for the Columbia-class submarine,” says Peter Blume, President of BLOOMY. “We are acutely aware of the importance of our role in supporting this next generation of advanced submarines, their vital importance to our nation’s security, and the safety of the sailors aboard them. As such, Bloomy is proud to join forces with Electric Boat in service to the United States Navy.”

BLOOMY has a depth of expertise with automated test equipment and a track record of successful performance on prior contracts, including the Hovering and Missile Compensation Control System Components Test Bed that BLOOMY delivered in 2020.

The test system will have an open architecture that maximizes the ease of component changes, upgrades, and replacements while minimizing user interface changes that necessitate personnel retraining. BLOOMY will use commercially available PXI hardware to provide the required computing and interface capabilities and will use NI LabVIEW and TestStand to implement the code module and test sequence software. As BLOOMY has learned in its 30-plus-year history, this approach will help ensure that the system remains viable for a program whose lifespan is measured in decades.