While typical telemetry processing systems are fixed, ground-based assets, certain mission profiles or telemetry acquisition models may involve telemetry processing systems which reside on other platforms, such as ships, mobile vehicles, or airplanes. The design and implementation of telemetry processing systems for these platforms poses unique challenges, which may include requirements for unusual mechanical packaging, heightened electromagnetic sensitivity, or specialized electrical interfaces. This paper presents some of the key challenges involved in the design and implementation of an airborne telemetry processing system and discusses how lessons learned from solving these challenges may be applied to future telemetry processing system designs.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 28-31, 1996 / Town and Country Hotel and Convention Center, San Diego, California / The Common Airborne Instrumentation System (CAIS) was developed under the auspices of the Department of Defense to promote standardization, commonality, and interoperability among flight test instrumentation. The central characteristic of CAIS is a common suite of equipment used across service boundaries and in many airframe and weapon systems. The CAIS system has many advanced capabilities which must be tested during ground support and system test. There is a need for a common set of low cost, highly capable ground support hardware and software tools to facilitate these tasks. The ground support system should combine commonly available PC-based telemetry tools with unique devices needed for CAIS applications (such as CAIS Bus Emulator, CAIS Hardware Simulator, etc.). An integrated software suite is imperative to support this equipment. A CAIS Ground Support Unit (GSU) has been developed to promote these CAIS goals. This paper presents the capabilities and features of a PC-based CAIS GSU, emphasizing those features that are unique to CAIS. Hardware tools developed to provide CAIS Bus Emulation and CAIS Hardware Simulation are also described.