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 / This paper describes a telemetry system developed for the EA-18G Flight Test program. The program requires transmission of a number of data streams, in IRIG-106 Chapter 4 PCM, Chapter 8 Mux-All 1553, Ethernet, and Fibre Channel formats. The initial requested data rate was in excess of 30 Mbits/sec. The telemetry system must operate at a range up to about 120 miles, at several test ranges, and with several different aircraft maneuvering configurations. To achieve these requirements, the Flight Test Instrumentation group at Boeing Integrated Defense Systems in Saint Louis, developed a telemetry system in conjunction with industry partners and test range customers. The system transmits two telemetry streams with a total aggregate rate on the order of 20 Mbits/sec. Each telemetry stream consists of up to four PCM streams, combined in a Teletronics Technology Corporation (TTC) Miniature Adaptable Real-Time Multiplexer Unit (MARM) data combiner. It uses Nova Engineering multi-mode transmitters capable of transmitting PCM-FM or Shaped Offset Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (SOQPSK). The transmitter also provides Turbo-Product Code (TPC) Forward Error Correction (FEC) to enhance range and improve link performance. Data collection units purchased from outside vendors or developed by Saint Louis Flight Test Instrumentation, translate Ethernet and Fibre Channel information into traditional PCM streams. A Boeing Flight Test Instrumentation developed control system provides flexible selection of streams to be combined into each telemetry stream, and functional control of antenna selection and transmitter operation.

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 describes the integration activities associated with the instrumentation and telemetry system developed for an F/A-18 Hornet Flight Test program, including bench integration, avionics integration, and aircraft ground and flight checkout. The system is controlled by a Boeing Integrated Defense System (IDS) Flight Test Instrumentation designed Instrumentation Control Unit (ICU), which interfaces to an avionics pilot display and Ground Support Unit (GSU) to set up the instrumentation during preflight and control the instrumentation during flight. The system takes in MIL-STD-1553, analog parameters, Ethernet, Fibre Channel, and video, and records these with onboard recorders. Selected subsets of this data may be routed to the telemetry system, which features two RF streams, each of which contains up to four PCM streams combined into a composite by a data combiner. The RF streams are transmitted by multi-mode digital transmitters capable of PCM-FM or Shaped Offset Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (SOQPSK), with selectable Turbo-Product Code (TPC) Forward Error Correction (FEC). This paper describes integration of the system with the IDS Flight Test Integration Test Bench (ITB), production avionics integration facilities, and final aircraft ground checkout and initial flight tests. It describes results of integration activities and bench evaluation of the telemetry system.