International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 25-28, 1993 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / Given the small size of hit-to-kill interceptor test vehicles currently under development, volumetric limitations mandate using the experimental vehicle's telemetry system during vehicle ground level acceptance and environmental testing to gather performance data, in addition to the primary function of successfully gathering and transmitting data during the test flight. In small, lightweight test interceptors, volume and mass become major telemetry system design considerations. In this paper we describe a system engineering approach to determine the key requirements and calculate some of the critical design parameters necessary for the successful design and development of a high data rate wide band FM Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) airborne telemetry system.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 27-30, 1997 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / An IRIG standard flight recorder has been developed that is based on half-inch helical scan technology. The recorder was developed by combining the data channel of existing ground-based recording systems with transport technology used in both flight test and operational fighter aircraft environments. The design goal was to achieve cross play compatibility with the defined IRIG 106.6 tape format. Significant margins were provided in the design to maintain compatibility with tapes recorded in fighter aircraft environments. Operation at up to 50,000 feet, a temperature range of -40EC to +55EC, and vibration sources to Mil Spec 5400T are requirements in this environment. How these technical problems were overcome during the development of this recorder is addressed in this paper.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 20-23, 2003 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / The 746th Test Squadron at Holloman AFB has developed and utilized the Central Inertial Guidance Test Facility (CIGTF) High Accuracy Post-processing Reference System (CHAPS). CHAPS is a multi-sensor navigation reference system used to evaluate position, velocity, and attitude performance of Global Positioning System (GPS), Inertial Navigation System (INS), and Embedded GPS/INS (EGI) navigation systems on large vehicles and aircraft. Reference data is processed post-test with accuracy ranges from a meter to sub-meter depending on the reference configuration and test environment (profile, trajectory dynamics, GPS jamming, etc.). The GPS Aided Inertial Navigation Reference (GAINR) system developed by the Air Force Flight Test Center (Edwards AFB) offered other utilization capabilities (test beds and post-processing time). The basic sensor assembly is an EGI navigation system. The data are post-processed with Multisensor Optimal Smoothing Estimation Software (MOSES). Incorporating CHAPS and GAINR capabilities generates a reference system with enhanced accuracy (sub-meter) in a dynamic GPS non-jamming/jamming environment. This paper will present the enhanced reference system combination of CHAPS/GAINR capabilities, characterization process and development methodology.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 23-26, 2000 / Town & Country Hotel and Conference Center, San Diego, California / Acquiring real-time video data, during flight testing, has become an integral component in aircraft design and performance evaluation. This unique data acquisition capability has been successfully integrated into the JSF (Joint Strike Fighter), CAIS compliant, FTIDAS (Flight Test Instrumentation Data Acquisition System) developed by L-3 Communications Telemetry-East.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 28-31, 1996 / Town and Country Hotel and Convention Center, San Diego, California / The Department of Defense (DoD), through a Tri-Service Program Office, is developing the Common Airborne Instrumentation System (CAIS) to promote standardization, commonality, and interoperability among aircraft test instrumentation systems. The advent of CAIS will change how the DoD test community conducts business. The CAIS program will allow aircraft test and evaluation facilities to utilize common airborne systems, ground support equipment, and technical knowledge for airborne instrumentation systems. The CAIS Toolset Software (CTS) provides the capability to generate formats and load/verify airborne memories. The CTS is primarily a software applications program hosted on an IBM compatible portable personal computer with several interface cards. The software will perform most functions without the presence of the interface cards to allow the user to develop test configurations and format loads on a desktop computer.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 30-November 02, 1995 / Riviera Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada / The Department of Defense (DoD), through a Tri-Service Program Office, is developing the Common Airborne Instrumentation System (CAIS) to promote standardization, commonality, and interoperability among aircraft test instrumentation systems. The advent of CAIS will change how the DoD test community conducts business. The CAIS program will allow aircraft test and evaluation facilities to utilize common airborne systems, ground support equipment, and technical knowledge for airborne instrumentation systems. During the development of the CAIS, the Program Office will conduct a broad spectrum of tests: engineering design, acceptance, environmental qualification, system demonstration, and flight qualification. Each of these tests addresses specific aspects of the overall functional requirements and specifications. The use of test matrices enables the program office to insure each specific test covers the optimum requirements, and the combination of all testing efforts addresses the total system functional requirements.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 25-28, 1999 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / Emerging technologies in the field of "Test & Measurement" have recently enabled the development of the Rapidly Adaptable Instrumentation Tester (RAIT). Based on software developed with LabVIEW®, the RAIT design enables quick reconfiguration to test and calibrate a wide variety of telemetry systems. The consequences of inadequate testing could be devastating if a telemetry system were to fail during an expensive flight mission. Supporting both open-bench testing as well as automated test sequences, the RAIT has significantly lowered total time required to test and calibrate a system. This has resulted in an overall lower per unit testing cost than has been achievable in the past.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 25-28, 1999 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / During high performance fighter aircraft manoeuvres, a fighter pilot may be exposed to a physiological phenomenon known as the “Push-Pull Effect” (reference (ref) [1]). This effect will alter the pilot’s homeostasis whereas blood flow to the brain will be increased during low negative normal acceleration (-Gz) and suddenly decreased during positive normal acceleration (+Gz). It has been hypothesized that this effect can lessen the Gtolerance of the human body thereby making the subject more susceptible to G induced Loss of Consciousness (G-LOC) (refs [2], [3] and [4]). G-LOC is not a desirable state for a pilot in a high performance aircraft such as a CF-18. To better understand and study the Push-Pull Effect on a fighter pilot, the Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment (AETE) and the Defence and Civil Institute of Environmental Medicine (DCIEM) produced an In-Flight Research (IFR) Program sponsored by the Canadian Forces (CF). The aim of this program was to measure the physiological response of relaxed test subjects, unprotected by a G-suit, when exposed to the Push-Pull manoeuvre in flight. This IFR would validate the centrifuge data and confirm that the Push-Pull Effect can occur in flight. This paper will present the instrumentation, design, telemetry system and installation methodology utilized to perform experimental physiological research on a high performance, ejection seat equipped fighter aircraft (CF-18). Also, preliminary results on the Push-Pull Effect, obtained through this IFR Program will be presented.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 25-28, 1999 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / The Instrumentation and Telemetry Departments at Sandia National Laboratories have been exploring the instrumentation of sealed canisters where the flight application will not tolerate either the presence of a chemical power source or penetration by power supply wires. This paper will describe the application of a low power micro-controller based instrumentation system that uses magnetic coupling for both power and data to support a flight application.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 30-November 02, 1995 / Riviera Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada / Half inch Super VHS (S-VHS) tape is an exceptional media for recording telemetry instrumentation data. Due to high volume mass production for the commercial and industrial video markets, high quality S-VHS media is available at a low cost. Advances in head technology as well as data path electronics contribute to increased data densities recorded on this media. Present system capabilities of 50,000 bits per inch will soon be replaced with newer technology systems that will record at linear densities up to 100,000 bits per inch.