International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 25-28, 1999 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / The ultra high capacity disk-based data recorders now entering service offer not just a convenient and inexpensive alternative to conventional tape systems for applications like Telemetry and Flight Test but also a unique opportunity to rethink the classical models for data capture, analysis and storage. Based on ‘open architecture’ interface standards- typically SCSI-this new generation of products represents an entirely new approach to the way data is handled. But the techniques they employ are equally applicable to any SCSI storage device. This Paper discusses a range of practical scenarios illustrating how it is now possible to `mix-and-match’ recording technologies at will-disk-array, DLT, DTF, ExaByte, JAZ, ZIP, DVD, etc.- to produce an almost infinite combination of readily scaleable plug-and-play data capture, analysis and archiving solutions. The cost and reliability benefits arising from the use of standard mass-produced storage sub-systems are also considered

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 26-29, 1998 / Town & Country Resort Hotel and Convention Center, San Diego, California / As the performance of inexpensive commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) data storage devices continues to increase, the temptation to use them as the basis for data capture products for military and industrial applications becomes ever more compelling. For example, the Digital Linear Tape (DLT) format now offers a 270 Gigabits per cassette capacity at a sustained transfer rate of 40 Mbits/s – performance which would have cost tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars per system just a few years ago. But to transplant such a device from its benign office habitat into a data capture product which will function reliably and consistently in a wide range of field and platform environments is an engineering task fully as difficult and complex as designing an environmentally robust recorder from scratch. This paper discusses the problems which typically have to be overcome; environmental protection, reliability, data integrity, power supplies, software issues, control and data interfacing, etc., citing practical examples of analog and digital DLT-based data recorders which are now entering service for telemetry, intelligence gathering, anti-submarine warfare and related applications

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 23-26, 2000 / Town & Country Hotel and Conference Center, San Diego, California / For the last 30 years Magnetic Tape Systems have been the primary means of recording data from airborne instrumentation systems. Increasing data rates and harsh environmental requirements have often exceeded the ability of tape-based systems to keep pace with technology. Throughout this time data recordings have been made mostly with analog longitudinal systems and most recently with digital recording systems that record on commercial DLT, and super VHS tape media. The recordings are played back with the same type of tape device allowing for the data to be processed and/or archived. Since not all data reduction facilities can process the same type of tape media, often tapes are dubbed from one type of tape media format to another, corrupting the translated data. This paper examines operational and data reduction benefits, and life cycle cost of Solid State Recorders as a replacement for existing airborne tape recorders.