International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 26-29, 1998 / Town & Country Resort Hotel and Convention Center, San Diego, California / Airborne instrumentation used during flight tests is being installed and maintained in a unique way by operational bomber testers from the Air Force’s 53d Wing. The ability of the flight test community to test on operational aircraft has always been somewhat curtailed by the need for advanced forms of instrumentation. Operational fighter flight test squadrons have aircraft assigned to them, which they modify on as needed basis, much the same as developmental testers. However, bomber operational test units must use operational aircraft to accomplish their mission as there are no bombers in the Air Force’s Air Combat Command (ACC) specifically set aside for operational tests. During test missions, these units borrow aircraft from operational bomb wings, and then return them to service with the bomb wing after testing is complete. Yet, the requirement for instrumentation on these test missions is not much different than that of developmental testers. The weapon system engineer’s typically require Mil-Std-1553, video, telemetry, and Global Positioning System (GPS) Time-Space-Position-Information airborne receiver recordings. In addition, this data must be synchronized with an IRIG-B time code source, and recorded with the same precision as the data gathered during development test and evaluation (DT&E). As a result, several techniques have been developed, and instrumentation systems designed for these operational test units to incorporate instrumentation on operational aircraft. Several factors hamper the usual modification process in place at bases such as Edwards AFB and Eglin AFB. Primary among these is the requirement to maintain the aircraft in an operational configuration, and still meet all of the modification design safety criteria placed on the design team by the aircraft’s single manager. Secondary to the list of restrictions is modification time. Aircraft resources are stretched quite thin when one considers all of the bomb wing’s operational commitments. When they must release an aircraft for test missions, the testers must insure that schedule impacts are minimal. Therefore, these systems must install and de-install within one to two days and be completely portable. Placing holes in existing structures or adding new permanent structure is unacceptable. In addition, these aircraft must be capable of returning to combat ready status at any time. This paper centers on the B-52 bomber, and the active aircraft temporary modifications under control of the 49th Test Squadron (49 TESTS) at Barksdale AFB in Louisiana. The B-52 presents unique design challenges all its own, in addition to the general restrictions already mentioned. This paper will present the options that the 49 TESTS has successfully used to overcome the aforementioned restrictions, and provide an appropriate level of specialized instrumentation for its data collection requirements.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 28-31, 1996 / Town and Country Hotel and Convention Center, San Diego, California / The Common Airborne Instrumentation System (CAIS) was developed under the auspices of the Department of Defense to promote standardization, commonality, and interoperability among flight test instrumentation. The central characteristic of CAIS is a common suite of equipment used across service boundaries and in many airframe and weapon systems. The CAIS system has many advanced capabilities which must be tested during ground support and system test. There is a need for a common set of low cost, highly capable ground support hardware and software tools to facilitate these tasks. The ground support system should combine commonly available PC-based telemetry tools with unique devices needed for CAIS applications (such as CAIS Bus Emulator, CAIS Hardware Simulator, etc.). An integrated software suite is imperative to support this equipment. A CAIS Ground Support Unit (GSU) has been developed to promote these CAIS goals. This paper presents the capabilities and features of a PC-based CAIS GSU, emphasizing those features that are unique to CAIS. Hardware tools developed to provide CAIS Bus Emulation and CAIS Hardware Simulation are also described.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 22-25, 2001 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / The CENTS Program is a Central Test and Evaluation Investment Program (CTEIP) effort conducted by the 46th Test Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. This project uses advanced internetworking technology to collect data unobtrusively from multiple Line Replaceable Units (LRU's) within an aircraft without the expense of running new wiring. The data is transported to a master network controller using the existing aircraft powerlines at a raw data rate of over 10 Mbits/s. Sensors are integrated into the shells of the LRU's data bus connectors to minimize the number of aircraft modifications required for a test. CENTS began in January 2000 as an OSD CTEIP Sponsored Test Technology Development and Demonstration (TTD&D) project and is currently in Phase 2 of the effort. Phase 1 saw the successful demonstration of the use of MIL-STD-704 power busses to establish a virtual network for data transport. This paper reviews the current status and past achievements of the CENTS TTD&D program as well as describing some immediate potential pay- offs for the Test and Evaluation community in the near-term.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 22-25, 2001 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / The US Government originally funded the development of the Common Airborne Instrumentation System (CAIS) to address industry-wide compatibility, maintenance, and commonality issues. Although initially targeted for US Department of Defense (DoD) programs, CAIS is also being used throughout the world in many commercial applications. This paper provides a fresh look at the evolution of the CAIS concept starting with some historical background of the CAIS Program, an overview of the CAIS System Architecture and recent trends in the use of “Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS)” products and technology.