International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 25-28, 1993 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / In today's aerospace environment, the watchwords and demands for system developers have become "faster, cheaper, better". The use of an industry standard bus and Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) hardware can substantially lower design time, cost, and enhance performance. This paper describes the Flexible Airborne/Space Data Acquisition System (FAStDAS) design for the MSTI series satellites. While the FAStDAS architecture was designed for the specifics of the MSTI satellites, the approach provides the flexibility for use on a wide variety of airborne and space applications.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 25-28, 1993 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / The VME bus is used in a wide variety of airborne applications. The particular application of the VPE is for use in the MSTI satellite to provide spacecraft telemetry. The VME based PCM encoder can provide telemetry from any stand alone data acquisition system. This paper describes the VME based PCM encoder. Since this design is ruggedized to meet the launch and environmental requirements for space, it can be used in any airborne VME system.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 25-28, 1993 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / The use of video imaging in VME based data acquisitions systems is increasing. Some systems require the video data to be telemetered. In telemetry systems that require video data to be sent, a dedicated video data channel is common. It is the purpose of this paper to present the combination of a video interface and a video PCM channel into one module. The name of this project is "Video Interface Module" (VIM).

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 25-28, 1993 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / With the move toward design and interface standards in data acquisition and processing hardware and software, the development of open architecture telemetry processing systems has moved from a goal to a reality. The potential for a system to support hardware and software from a variety of vendors, allow inclusion of user-written software and user-provided interfaces, and provide a scalable, growth oriented processing capability can now be realized. This paper discusses the open architecture concept throughout the hardware and software components of the typical telemetry processing system. Utilizing such a system ensures flexibility to support different configurations, better and faster analysis through greater user programmability, and overall reduced costs by providing a system that can grow as future hardware and software components are brought to market.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 22-25, 2001 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / A flexible, modular method is needed to connect test range data systems to central real-time computer networks. This is achieved by the development of a real-time, networked, VME-based range interface system. Flexibility is achieved by a modular hardware and software design. The modular hardware consists of standard network interfaces, COTS VME interfaces, and a VME single board computer (with an onboard PCI bus). The modular software is implemented in C++ using the VxWorks real-time operating system. This paper describes the conceptual design and development of the Modular Range Interface (ModRI).

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 18-21, 2004 / Town & Country Resort, San Diego, California / The Modular Range Interface (ModRI) is a reliable networked data acquisition system used to acquire and disseminate dissimilar data. ModRI’s purpose is to connect TSPI systems to a central computer network. The modular hardware design consists of an SBC, COTS network interfaces, and other COTS interfaces in a VME form factor. The modular software design uses C++ and OO patterns running under an RTOS. Current capabilities of ModRI include acquisition of Ethernet, PCM data, RS-422/232 serial data, and IRIG-B time. Future strategies might include stand-alone data acquisition, acquisition of digital video, and migration to other architectures and operating systems.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 28-31, 1996 / Town and Country Hotel and Convention Center, San Diego, California / This paper describes the Production Monitor (PM), a result of integrating very diverse hardware architectures into a compact, portable, real time airborne data monitor, and data analysis station. Flight testing of aircraft is typically conducted with personnel aboard during flight. These personnel monitor real time data, play back recorded data, and adjust test suites to certify or analyze systems as quickly as possible. In the past, Boeing has used a variety of dissimilar equipment and software to meet our testing needs. During the process of standardizing and streamlining testing processes, the PM was developed. PM combines Data Flow, VME, Ethernet, and PC architectures into a single integrated system. This approach allows PM to run applications, provide indistinguishable operator interfaces, and use data bases and peripherals common to our other systems.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 28-31, 1996 / Town and Country Hotel and Convention Center, San Diego, California / This paper will discuss the design and performance of card level telemetry receivers and combiners. This will include products that have been designed to operate in compact computer controlled environments such as VME chassis, VXI chassis and personal computers using ISA buses. The paper will discuss design considerations required to overcome limitation of this environment such as noise and space. The paper will also discuss the performance of a telemetry receiver and combiner in this environment. This will include performance test results such as bit error rate test, phase noise measurements and combiner improvement measurements. Finally, the paper will discuss typical applications of card level telemetry receivers and combiners.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 30-November 02, 1995 / Riviera Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada / The ability to dynamically configure our ground stations to support a wide array of fighter/attack aircraft programs has lead McDonnell Douglas Aerospace (MDA) to seek alternatives to commercially available ground stations. Cost effectiveness and fast response time to these widely varying needs is paramount to staying competitive in today's current defense environment. VME (Versa Modular European) architecture has provided a platform that fulfills these requirements while requiring a minimum of in house designs which can be expensive and time consuming to implement. MDA is now in its third generation of VME based ground systems. These systems are highly extensible due to their reliance on software and programmable hardware systems and are inexpensive due to their use of commercial grade VME cards. This paper describes the current generation TM/Quicklook Ground Station and the Data Editor (Preprocessor) Station and it also provides a perspective of how the designers solved some common problems associated with VME architecture. These stations are now in use at MDA test sights in St. Louis, Patuxent River NAWC, Edwards AFB, and Eglin AFB.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 25-28, 1993 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / VME bus has been widely accepted as an industry standard for control and process computers. The MSTI (Miniature Sensor Technology Integration) series of satellites employ a VME bus based data acquisition and control system. This system requires a ruggedized, high-speed, compact, low power and light weight data recorder for storing digital imagery from payload video cameras, as well as health and status data of the satellite. No commercial off the shelf systems were found which meet MSTI specifications. Also, a solid state device eliminates certain reliability and spacecraft pointing control problems which are encountered when using rotating (disk or tape) storage systems. The SSDR was designed to meet these requirements and it also has built-in flexibility for many general purpose applications. The electronic hardware design, which conforms to the VME bus specifications [1], can also be configured as stand-alone system. Modular memory array design allows expandability of capacity up to 320 MBytes. This paper will describe the design features of the SSDR. Performance capabilities and system implementation will be discussed. Special approaches required for application of the SSDR in space or harsh environments are also discussed.