WindShape

WindShape is a Swiss high-tech company that develops laboratory equipment and testing services for drones and aerospace systems. Its core product, the WindShaper, is a fully customizable and portable multi-fan wind generator that produces controllable, repeatable wind fields for scientific experiments and free-flight drone testing. The company pairs this hardware with software tools such as WindControl for real-time wind control and visualization, and WindVision for experiment visualization, along with the WindProbe digital multi-hole pressure probe for measuring wind intensity and direction. Beyond equipment, WindShape operates drone test centers. Its US test center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is equipped with eight labs supporting environmental chambers, a wet lab for rain testing, a flight lab for wind, gust and turbulence robustness testing, a subsystems lab, and an outdoor drone flight range. Its European test lab is located at its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, supporting flight testing and aerodynamic characterization, automated test benches, and reliability engineering with FMEA support. WindShape serves drone manufacturers, researchers and aerospace pioneers, offering services that span C-Class marking requirements, environmental testing, flying autonomous validation, performance assessment and safety assessment. The company positions itself as enabling autonomous flight and helping customers bring innovations to market one test at a time. The company traces its origins to 2015, when Prof. Flavio Noca envisioned testing drones in free flight and research engineer Guillaume Catry began working on a fan-array prototype. A first 3x3 fan module was assembled and tested in 2016, and the concept attracted the interest of Prof. Mory Gharib of Caltech, who hosted the first real-scale WindShaper at Caltech CAST. WindShape has since grown into a company with people on two continents, granted patents, and commissioned WindShapers, describing its journey from inception to profitability.

WindShape's history begins in 2015 with an idea: Prof. Flavio Noca dreamed about testing drones in free flight. Guillaume Catry, then a research engineer in Flavio Noca's lab, began working on a prototype of a fan array. In 2016, the first module of 3x3 fans was assembled and tested. Early results were encouraging, although the useful section was too small (240mm x 240mm) to be used for free-flight testing. Around this time, Prof. Mory Gharib of Caltech met with Flavio Noca and discussed the concept; Prof. Gharib was interested in hosting the first real-scale WindShaper at Caltech CAST (Center for Autonomous Systems and Technologies). From these academic origins, WindShape grew into a company that develops unique high-tech laboratory equipment to empower researchers and innovators. Its product line expanded beyond the WindShaper hardware to include WindControl software for controlling the wind generator and visualizing wind data in real time, the WindProbe digital multi-hole pressure probe for acquiring wind intensity and direction, and WindVision visualization software for experiments. The company also built out testing services and physical test centers. Its US test center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is equipped with eight labs to support drone testing projects, including environmental chambers, a wet lab for rain readiness, a flight lab for wind, gust and turbulence robustness, a subsystems lab, and an outdoor drone flight range. Its European test lab at its Geneva headquarters supports flight testing, aerodynamic characterization with a fully automated test bench, and design-for-reliability with FMEA support. WindShape describes its journey as going from inception to profitability, and its about page highlights years of expertise, granted patents, commissioned WindShapers, people on two continents, and assembled fans across its offices and labs. The company's stated vision is bringing customers' innovations to market one test at a time, and its culture emphasizes challenging the impossible for customers every day.

• 2016

  Proof of concept: first 3x3 fan module assembled and tested; Prof. Mory Gharib (Caltech) discusses hosting the first real-scale WindShaper at Caltech CAST.

• 2015

  Inception: Prof. Flavio Noca dreams about testing drones in free flight; Guillaume Catry begins work on a fan-array prototype.

Enabling autonomous flight through high-tech laboratory equipment and methodic drone system validation.

• WindShaper

  A fully customizable and portable multi-fan wind generator for creative researchers; modular and customizable to any size and shape, with controllable and repeatable wind for scientific experiments.

• WindControl

  Software interface to the WindShaper that allows users to control the wind generator and visualize wind data in real time; easy to use, intuitive, cross-platform and OS-independent.

• WindProbe

  Digital multi-hole pressure probe to acquire wind intensity and direction; calibrated for precision across the entire measurement range, plug-and-play, and equipped with markers for motion tracking camera systems.

• WindVision

  Intuitive and fully integrated visualization software for experiments; cross-platform and OS-independent.

1. 1Home - WindShapewindshape.com
2. 2About Us - WindShapewindshape.com
3. 3Products - WindShapewindshape.com
4. 4Services - WindShapewindshape.com
5. 5WindShape - Wikidatawikidata.org