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 26-29, 1992 / Town and Country Hotel and Convention Center, San Diego, California / MIL-STD-1553 multiplex data buses are commonly used to link complex software-controlled systems in modern aircraft. The software in these aircraft is routinely updated; each update requires flight testing. Also, sophisticated weapons and electronic warfare systems which are integrated into operationally-ready aircraft must be routinely evaluated. The simplest way to perform the required evaluation is to record all the data from the multiplex data buses during an operational flight; these data can then be replayed and examined after the flight. Traditionally, some operational systems had to be disabled or removed from an aircraft to allow installation of a data acquisition system. This paper discusses a MILSTD- 1553 multiplex bus Record-All Small Data Acquisition System (RASDAS) installed in a McDonnell Douglas CF-188 fighter aircraft to record all data from two 1553 multiplex data buses without displacing any operational equipment. The specific requirements and constraints associated with evaluating the integrated systems of a CF-188 aircraft are examined; further, RASDAS implementation in this aircraft type is discussed from planning to flight evaluation.

<p>This report is a result of a thesis work done for Linköping University at Contraves Space AG in Zürich, Switzerland. The aim was to perform an analysis of 12 interface standards and construct a simple breadboard, which should function as a testsystem for the data communication interface MIL-STD-1553. </p><p>The conclusion of the extensive analysis is that SpaceWire, MIL-STD-1553 and CAN are the most interesting interfaces for future data communication in spacecrafts. In the breadboard part of the work, a test system was built and data gathered with help from a demonstration program that came with one of the components.</p>

This report is a result of a thesis work done for Linköping University at Contraves Space AG in Zürich, Switzerland. The aim was to perform an analysis of 12 interface standards and construct a simple breadboard, which should function as a testsystem for the data communication interface MIL-STD-1553. The conclusion of the extensive analysis is that SpaceWire, MIL-STD-1553 and CAN are the most interesting interfaces for future data communication in spacecrafts. In the breadboard part of the work, a test system was built and data gathered with help from a demonstration program that came with one of the components.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 26-29, 1992 / Town and Country Hotel and Convention Center, San Diego, California / Due to the vast amount of data required to be collected for design/performance analysis of operational and development systems, there has evolved a real requirement for a high-speed, large capacity, data collection/record system in a small Flight/Ruggedized package. This need is realized by several user communities and factors which include the evolution of small operational vehicles (airborne, land and UAV’s), the desire of weapons manufacturers/integrators to be independent from the vehicle during vehicle integration, and a general need for a field/airborne, reliable portable data collection system for intelligence gathering, operational performance verification and on-board data processing. In the Air Defence community, the need for a ruggedized record system was highlighted after Desert Storm, in which the operational performance of the Patriot Missile was questioned and data collection was not performed to support the performance. The Aydin Vector Division in conjunction with the prime contractor, has come up with a solution to this problem which utilizes a commercially available helical scan 8mm data storage unit. This solution provides a highly reliable record system, ruggedized for airborne and field environments and a low price in comparison with the more traditional approaches currently offered. This paper will describe the design implementation of this small ruggedized, flight worthy Data collection system deemed the ATD-800. It will also discuss the performance and limitations of implementing such a system, as well as provide several applications and solutions to different operational environments to be encountered. Additionally, the paper will conclude with several product enhancements which may benefit the flight test, operational and intelligence communities in the future.