International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 17-20, 1994 / Town & Country Hotel and Conference Center, San Diego, California / In space applications, telemetry systems are traditionally used to provide a front end for processing Control Center data. Control Center operations dictate the content and processing requirements of the telemetry data to enable the control center personnel to make proper decisions concerning the operation of their space vehicle. Unfortunately many anomalous operational scenarios do not arise during control center checkout procedures which are designed to test the functionality of the Control Center equipment. However, an interactive telemetry simulation, which involves producing telemetry data using real-world formats and data rates, can create many of the situations control center personnel may encounter. A host computer is used to drive a telemetry system which in turn produces simulated vehicle data. As a result, a telemetry simulation can not only verify the functionality of the Control Center hardware and software, but also validate Control Center procedures and train Control Center personnel in the process.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 25-28, 1999 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / The White Sands Telemetry Data Center (TDC) is moving to a new home. The TDC, along with various range functions, is moving to the new J. W. Cox Range Control Center (CRCC). The CRCC is under construction and will replace the present control center. Construction of the new CRCC and the resulting move was prompted by the presence of asbestos in the present Range Control Center (RCC). The CRCC construction will be completed in September 1999 at which time the communications backbone will be installed. (Estimated time to complete the installation is nine months.) In early 2000, White Sands will begin transition of the TDC and other commodity functions to the CRCC. The transition must not interrupt normal support to range customers and will result in the consolidation of all range control functions. The new CRCC was designed to meet current and future mission requirements and will contain the latest in backbone network design and functionality for the range customer. The CRCC is the single point of control for all missions conducted on the 3700 square mile range. The Telemetry Data Center will be moved in two parts into the new CRCC. This will allow us to run parallel operations with the old RCC until the CRCC is proven reliable and minimize overall downtime. Associated telemetry fiber optics, microwave communications and field data relay sites will be upgraded and moved at the same time. Since the TDC is so tightly dependent upon data input from both fiber optics and microwave communications inputs, a cohesive move is critical to the overall success of the transition. This paper also provides an overview of the CRCC design, commodity transition, and lessons learned.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 25-28, 1993 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / This paper will describe the effort to provide a common telemetry system for the Control Center Complex (CCC) which will process data from both the space shuttle and the space station vehicles. It is being developed for the manned spaceflight program at Johnson Space Center. Space shuttle uses a traditional Inter-Range Instrumentation Group (IRIG) telemetry format and Space Station Freedom utilizes the more recently developed Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) standards for packet-based telemetry Although the two telemetry streams are very different in structure, a front end system is being developed which will isolate the differences and provide a common data format to the downstream elements of the control center. Because of this, a CCC workstation could receive and process data from either space station or space shuttle or both using a identical set of workstation program tools. The generic telemetry front end processor, which is called the Consolidated Communications Facility (CCF), will not only provide a cost effective method of processing space shuttle and space station data, but also will position the CCC to support anticipated requirements of' future programs. The development goals for the CCC are to reduce development and sustaining costs. In the CCF project, commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) equipment is stressed to allow modular maintenance. In addition, the project has emphasized the development of a automated features in the telemetry stream selection and processing which reduce the amount of operator attention needed. The system has been designed to include robotics in the recording operation and artificial intelligence for detecting faults. This paper will review the concept development for processing telemetry and outline the architecture of the front end CCF project. It will discuss the goals and major influences on the design, and provide a status on the development. Ability of the current COTS marketplace to meet the goals will be discussed. In summation, this paper will describe generic telemetry processing in the context of the CCC being built at Johnson Space Center.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 25-28, 1999 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / As the flight test community moves into the 21st century, the ever increasing demand for higher telemetry data rates and the need to transport additional data types is becoming the challenge of every flight test range. The evolution of the flight test range has grown from low telemetry data rates and a few 2400 baud tracking sources into high-speed telemetry, GPS based tracking, networking, digital video, and more. Recognizing the need to change the way data is managed has resulted in an effort to redefine the work centers at the Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC) at Edwards AFB. The Technical Control Center (TCC) within the Ridley Mission Control Center at Edwards AFB is currently being relocated with the intent of achieving tomorrow’s vision, while supporting the missions of today. One major goal of this redefinition is the elimination of as much analog transmission equipment as possible in favor of digital transmission. The new digital range requires management of data and allocation of that management in different ways than the past. Moving to an all-digital range has advantages that are just now being realized. This paper outlines the current and future design, configuration, maintenance, and operation of the TCC and touches on how some of the other range functions are impacted. In addition, the challenges and benefits of implementing the next generation in range communications will be discussed.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 22-25, 2001 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / Deutsche Telekom is operating various communication satellites since 1989. The SCC (spacecraft control center) is located near Frankfurt / Germany. The entire system is based on antenna/RF equipment, baseband and computer software packages running on a computer network of different machines. Due to increased maintenance effort the old baseband system needed to be replaced. This also had effects to the computer system, especially to the M&C. The aim was to design the entire system in a way that the operation effort in costs aspects and human intervention are minimized. This paper shows the successful real world project of reengineering a traditional spacecraft control center (SCC). It is shown how a fifteen year old hardware (baseband system) and software design was replaced by a modern concept during normal operations. The new software packages execute all necessary tasks for spacecraft- and ground station control. The Monitor and Control System (M&C) is a database driven design (FRAMTEC, from CAM Germany).

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 22-25, 2001 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / CCSDS recommendations initially addressed the communication link between spacecraft and ground station. Space Link Extension (SLE) is a set of CCSDS recommended standards for extending the link to control centers, allowing distributed access to space link telecommand and telemetry services. The recommendations encompass the specification of both services and access methods. This paper discusses an implementation of SLE that will be used to provide Forward CLTU service to the upcoming INTEGRAL (International Gamma Ray Astrophysics Laboratory) mission.

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 / Flight and weapons test ranges typically include multiple Telemetry Sites (TM Sites) that receive telemetry from platforms being flown on the range. Received telemetry is processed and forwarded by them to a Range Control Center (RCC) which is responsible for flight safety, and for delivering captured best source telemetry to those responsible for the platform being flown. When range equipment or operations are impaired in their ability to receive telemetry or process it correctly, expensive and/or one-of-a-kind platforms may have to be destroyed in flight to maintain safety margins, resulting in substantial monetary loss, valuable data loss, schedule disruption and potential safety concerns. Less severe telemetry disruptions can also result in missing or garbled telemetry data, negatively impacting platform test, analysis and design modification cycles. This paper provides a high level overview of a physics-compliant Range Test System (RTS) built upon Radio Frequency (RF) Channel Simulator technology. The system is useful in verifying range operation with most range equipment configured to function as in an actual mission. The system generates RF signals with appropriate RF link effects associated with range and range rate between the flight platform and multiple telemetry tracking stations. It also emulates flight and RF characteristics of the platform, to include signal parameters, antenna modeling, body shielding and accurate flight parameters. The system is useful for hardware, software, firmware and process testing, regression testing, and fault detection test, as well as range customer assurance, and range personnel training against nominal and worst-case conditions.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 28-31, 1996 / Town and Country Hotel and Convention Center, San Diego, California / Deutsche Telekom has been operating different communication satellites for several years. The Satellite Control Center (SCC) of Deutsche Telekom is located near Usingen, about 50 km northwest of Frankfurt/Main. The system has been under operation since the launch of the first flight model DFS in June 1989. The entire computer system was based on Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) VAX type computers. The maintenance costs of these old Complex Instruction Sets Computers (CISC) were increased significantly during the last years. Due to the high operational costs Deutsche Telekom decided to exchange the operational computer system. Present-day information technology world uses more and more powerful Reduced Instruction Set Computers (RISC). These new designs allow operational costs to be reduced appreciably. The VAX type computers will be replaced by DEC Alpha AXP Computers. This paper describes the transition process from CISC to RISC computers in an operational realtime environment.

Being able to interact with video streams can be both fun, educational and provide help during disaster situations. However, to achieve the best user experience the interaction must be seamless. This thesis presents the design and implementation of an interface for a media player that allows for users to view multiple video streams of the same event from different geographical positions and angles. The thesis first describes the system design and methods used to implement this kind of media player and explains how to achieve a seemingly good and, to a higher extent, enjoyable video streaming experience. Second, an algorithm is developed for placing each video stream object on the interface's geographic-based map automatically. These objects are placed to ensure the relative positions of the objects compared to the real world. The end result of this project is a proof-of-concept media player which enables a user to see an overview over a geographical streaming area. Presented with the relative location of each stream to the point of interest the player allows the user to click on that stream and switch to viewing the recordings from that point of view. While the resulting player is not yet seamless, the result of this project shows the command-and-control center as initially envisioned. Implementing seamless, uninterrupted, switching between the video streams is outside the scope of this thesis. However, as demonstrated and argued in the thesis, the work done here and the developed software code will allow for easy integration of more advanced prefetching algorithms in future and parallel works.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 30-November 02, 1995 / Riviera Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada / Deutsche Telekom has been operating different flight models for several years. A Satellite Control Center (SCC) was designed and installed to support the operation of the satellite systems DFS Kopernikus and TV-Sat. The DFS Kopernikus system is composed of three flight models and the satellite system TV-Sat has one flight model. The aim was to design an SCC and ground stations in a way, enabling the operation of satellites and groundstations by only two operators at the main control room. The operators are well trained but not scientifically educated. The high integrated SCC supports the operators with a state of the art man-machine-interface. Software executes all necessary tasks for spacecraft- and ground station control. Interaction in front of communication equipment is not necessary. The operation of satellites is a business with a high risk potential. This paper presents the design of a Satellite Control Center with high system availability.