RCC 106 Chapter 10 has established the standard for interoperable flight test recording on the DOD ranges. The growth of network and distributed technologies in flight test instrumentation (FTI) has led to the recent adoption of Chapters 21 through 28 to provide standards for implementing interoperable telemetry networks. However, the new standards have led to confusion and concern that the investment in Chapter 10 recorders will be lost. This paper first clarifies the complementary nature of the RCC 106 chapters and proposes one possible path to extending the current capability of a Chapter 10 recorder with telemetry network capability while minimizing impact to existing recording and support systems.

ITC/USA 2007 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Third Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 22-25, 2007 / Riviera Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / This paper presents an analysis of various methods to address the reproduction of recorded Chapter 10 data in real-time. The standard IRIG 106 Chapter 10 recording format is quickly becoming the most commonly used data recording format in the community. As such, a lot of emphasis has been put on recording requirements including time-stamping, data multiplexing, etc. However, there are additional needs that must be considered when using Chapter 10 as the only permanent data record. It is often necessary to reproduce the original data stream exactly as it was recorded with all its timing characteristics. This paper presents various tradeoffs discovered while designing a real-time playback system for recorded chapter 10 data files. In particular, techniques such as just-enough buffering, data re-ordering, pre-processing, etc will be discussed.

ITC/USA 2005 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-First Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 24-27, 2005 / Riviera Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / As part of the iNET Team’s plan to demonstrate to the validity and benefits of adding a network connection to a test vehicle, Wyle Laboratories Telemetry and Data Systems is developing a network-based command structure that allows ground-based users to request data previously archived on-board a test article in response to real-time data monitoring. This synthesis of real-time telemetry monitoring with traditional ground-based post-test data analysis provides flight test engineers with near real-time, error free data while the aircraft is on station. Additionally, this approach maximizes the use of available telemetry bandwidth by allowing users to dynamically request different data sets for downloading. This paper addresses the command structure of the interface; the utilization of IRIG 106 Chapter 10 data structures in a network environment, and provides performance metrics of the test case.

ITC/USA 2010 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Sixth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 25-28, 2010 / Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, California / The RCC IRIG Chapter 10 standard requires that Chapter 10 recorders use the STANAG- 4575 (NATO Advanced Data Storage Interface) file system to store data files. The STANAG-4575 standard defines a linear file system in which each file is stored in a single contiguous block of disk space. There is a small directory listing at the beginning of the disk. This listing stores the starting position and length for each file. It also stores the file's name and its creation date and time. This file system is very efficient for storing files that are recorded sequentially because it does not require the disk to constantly update a file allocation table on each write. Unfortunately, the STANAG-4575 file system is not directly supported by Microsoft Windows. This means that it is not possible to simply attach a recorder's disk to a PC and copy the files directly using Windows Explorer. This paper will discuss an approach that allows the contents of a STANAG formatted disk to be read from a standard Windows PC. In addition to copying files from the disk, this approach allows several other useful operations to be performed on the disk. These operations include advanced copy options such as partial file copies and splitting files into multiple pieces. It can also provide a mechanism for deleting files, reformatting the disk and performing a sanitization procedure on a disk to declassify it.

ITC/USA 2007 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Third Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 22-25, 2007 / Riviera Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / The F-22 flight test program used a traditional distributed data acquisition system and a non IRIG-106 Chapter 10 recording system for its flight test program. In addition, it required a separate and very large Harris DAU system to monitor and record avionic data buses carrying secure data. Due to the size, cost, and the obsolescence of the Harris DAU system and components, Lockheed evaluated replacement systems. TTC proposed to develop F-22 specific Fiber Optic avionics bus monitors and an avionics PCM Data Selector / Encoder as part of its distributed IRIG-106 Chapter 10 Multiplexer / Recorder system to replace the Harris DAU. This replacement system challenges the traditional system approach used in many flight test programs. This paper describes the evolutionary process to design two independent distributed data acquisition and recording systems handling data with different classification levels. The data separation is maintained by way of system wiring, proper hardware that holds no residual data once power is removed, different transmission channels, hardware-based message blocking, and a separate IRIG-106 Chapter 10 multiplexing / recording system.

ITC/USA 2006 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Second Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 23-26, 2006 / Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, California / Rapid access to ever-increasing amounts of test data is becoming a problem. The authors have developed a data-mining methodology solution approach to provide a solution to catalog test files, search metadata attributes to derive test data files of interest, and query test data measurements using a web-based engine to produce results in seconds. Generated graphs allow the user to visualize an overview of the entire test for a selected set of measurements, with areas highlighted where the query conditions were satisfied. The user can then zoom into areas of interest and export selected information.

ITC/USA 2005 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-First Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 24-27, 2005 / Riviera Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / The Telemetry Group (TG) of the Range Commanders Council (RCC) developed the Chapter 10 addition to the IRIG 106 standard to “establish a common interface standard for the implementation of solid-state digital data acquisition and on-board recording systems” ([1]). This standard is intended to allow the development of a common set of data playback/reduction software, minimizing the need for a large number of unique programs to handle proprietary data structures. This paper analyzes the Chapter 10 standard from a data processing perspective, providing insight into the benefits and challenges developers will face when writing Chapter 10 software.

ITC/USA 2005 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-First Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 24-27, 2005 / Riviera Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / Instrumentation recorders have evolved continuously over the years. Their growth has primarily been driven by technology advancements. The latest recording equipment generally utilizes hard disk, disk array, or solid-state storage technology, which results in greater capacity and performance. Most recorders integrate storage media with multiplexer electronics resulting in a highly efficient yet inflexible and physically large recording system. This paper describes an instrumentation multiplexer/recorder system using an open architecture between the multiplexer and the storage media that allows insertion of conventional recording technologies. This approach provides a generalized solution with enough flexibility and scalability to address the majority of instrumentation recording needs. This system is based on the latest IRIG-106 chapter 10 standard, thus supporting interoperability throughout the flight test community.

ITC/USA 2005 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-First Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 24-27, 2005 / Riviera Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / Wideband data acquisition units have been used as part of an instrumentation system for several decades. Historically, these units operated asynchronously from each other, and from the rest of the instrumentation system when installed on the same test vehicle. When many wideband units are required to slave their formats or sampling rate to the test vehicle’s event of interest such as external computer event clock, radar, or laser pulse train; few solutions were available. Additionally, a single test vehicle may use ten to thirty wideband units operating at up to 20 Mbps each. Such systems present a challenge to the instrumentation engineers to synchronize, transmit safety of flight information, and record. This paper will examine a distributed wideband data acquisition system in which each acquisition unit operates under its own data rate and format, yet remains fully synchronized to an external fixed or variable simultaneous sampling rate to provide total system coherency. The system aggregate rate can be as low as a few Mbps to as high as 1 Gbps. Data acquired from the acquisition units is further multiplexed per IRIG-106 chapter 10 using distributed data multiplexers for recording.

ITC/USA 2007 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Third Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 22-25, 2007 / Riviera Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / The most recent version of IRIG 118, Test Methods for Telemetry Systems and Subsystems, was released in 1999 and does not include any guidance for testing IRIG 106 Chapter 10 recorder / reproducers. This paper will describe the methodology and tools used to perform a thorough testing process to ensure compliance with the IRIG 106-07 standard.