ITC/USA 2009 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Fifth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 26-29, 2009 / Riviera Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / The integrated Network-Enhanced Telemetry (iNET) Test Article Standards Working Group (TASWG) has developed a standard for Telemetry Network System (TmNS). The introduction of Internet Protocol (IP) networks on test ranges has created the potential for greater flexibility in the telemetry environment. This paper discusses the rationale for particular decisions concerning key components mandated by the standard. Performance implications concerning the mandates of the standard are also described. As an educational aid, examples of TAS-based processing philosophies and data structures have been constructed. These examples, including sending and receiving messages, are shown to reinforce understanding core concepts of the standard.

ITC/USA 2009 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Fifth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 26-29, 2009 / Riviera Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / Sponsored by the Central Test and Evaluation Investment Program (CTEIP), the integrated Network Enhanced Telemetry (iNET) project has created a proposed architecture for network enhancing aeronautical telemetry. Given the static nature of the current aeronautical telemetry architecture (it has not significantly changed in over 50 years), it is recognized that iNET must be carefully deployed to avoid test disruptions and safety issues. In support of a smooth transition to this new architecture, the Naval Air Warfare Division Aircraft (NAWCAD) conducted an extensive continuous process improvement project. This paper will describe the process, defined and launched by this study, to assure the safe deployment of iNET.

ITC/USA 2009 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Fifth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 26-29, 2009 / Riviera Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / The use of Ethernet and Internet Protocol (IP) networking technologies in flight test instrumentation and telemetry systems is rapidly increasing, driven by the ubiquity, scalability, and flexibility of networking technologies. Networks first made a positive impact in ground station infrastructure and have recently been emerging in test article data acquisition infrastructure in programs such as the A380, 787, P-8A, and Future Combat Systems. The next logical step is to provide a two-way network telemetry link to fully extend the flexibility of the network between the test articles and ground station. The United States Department of Defense (DoD) integrated Network-Enhanced Telemetry (iNET) program is currently working to build a standardized network telemetry link for exactly this purpose. When developing a network telemetry link, the limited availability of telemetry spectrum must be considered and thus it is critical to choose system-level approaches to maximize the throughput achieved from the link. This paper first presents the statistics of the network data that would typically use this link based on empirical data from current network-based flight test instrumentation systems. Several approaches to using a network telemetry link are then presented. Predicted achievable throughputs of each approach are presented that are derived from the statistics of the empirical test data. Based on this, the paper presents recommendations for building systems using network telemetry links.

ITC/USA 2008 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Fourth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 27-30, 2008 / Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, California / The majority of currently operating flight test programs around the world utilize PCM-based airborne instrumentation systems. Most instrumentation engineers are very comfortable with PCM-based data acquisition systems, and feel uncomfortable when talking about network implementations and the adoption of iNET. In order for these engineers to embrace this new technology, migrating from a PCM to network topology must be done in an evolutionary manner that provides for the preservation of capital investment while introducing new system concepts that enhance current instrumentation systems. This paper describes hardware components that enable instrumentation engineers to migrate their existing PCM-based instrumentation system to a network-based system. Several of these components are discussed to illustrate how they provide a controlled migration path to a network-based system. These components include time distribution, gateways, network data selectors, network switches, transmitters, transceivers, and recorders.

ITC/USA 2008 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Fourth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 27-30, 2008 / Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, California / The integrated Network Enhanced Telemetry (iNET) project established a test article standards working group to define open standards for network components and interfaces for test articles in the aeronautical test environment. Its aim is to utilize the growth of Internet technologies for telemetry networks and ensure interoperability among network devices. This paper describes the technology background and the current technology trades of an IP-based network paradigm used in producing standards for test article networks. Specifically, the paper will include descriptions of selected network technologies as applied to test data and time distribution within test articles.

ITC/USA 2008 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Fourth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 27-30, 2008 / Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, California / In this paper, we propose the exploitation of array beamforming technology in high-speed aeronautical communication applications, e.g., the integrated Network Enhanced Telemetry (iNET) system. By flexible steering of beams and nulls, an array can enhance desired signals whereas the undesired signals such as interference and jammers are suppressed. The proposed adaptive beamforming technology is DSP-based and network-aware, and is designed for the use at aerial vehicle platforms to increase transmission power efficiency, improve receiving signal sensitivity, mitigate interference/multipath effects, and extend the communication range.

ITC/USA 2008 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Fourth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 27-30, 2008 / Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, California / The Joint Mission Environment Test Capability (JMETC) is a distributed live, virtual, and constructive (LVC) testing capability developed to support the acquisition community and to demonstrate Net-Ready Key Performance Parameters (KPP) requirements in a customer-specific Joint Mission Environment (JME). JMETC, using the Test and Training Enabling Architecture, TENA, provides connectivity to the Services' distributed test capabilities and simulations, and industry test resources. TENA is well-designed for supporting JMETC events through its architecture and software capabilities which enable interoperability among range instrumentation systems, facilities, and simulations. TENA, used in major exercises and distributed test events, is also interfacing with other emerging range systems, such as iNET.

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 / Industrial wireless sensor networks can be designed to meet the strict requirements of specific distributed applications. Emerging standards have enabled the development of low-cost, lowpower sensor nodes that are quickly becoming a commodity, enabling the realization of efficient and reliable data acquisition and telemetry in many systems. Moreover, new and exciting possibilities arise from the distributed computing power of the sensor nodes, the ability to monitor and aggregate data across large arrays of sensors, and the ability to model dynamic and rugged environments that were previously beyond the reach of traditional data acquisition and telemetry systems.

ITC/USA 2010 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Sixth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 25-28, 2010 / Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, California / The concept of a range area network dedicated to the reception of telemetry from airborne test articles is explored. The range area network consists of ground-based radios that receive telemetry packets from an airborne test article and relay those packets through the network to a data sink (e.g., the main telemetry display and processing center). The network may use either "dumb" nodes or "smart" nodes and this choice presents a trade-off involving node complexity, network bandwidth, and required RF power. Using a somewhat idealized, but nonetheless realistic example at the Edwards AFB complex and link budgets based on the emerging iNET standard, we show that a network consisting of just 6 nodes reduces the L-band airborne transmitter power to 6W and the ground-based transmitters to 3W. If the airborne transmitter is restricted to 1W at L-band, then coverage can be provided by a grid of 50 nodes.

ITC/USA 2010 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Sixth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 25-28, 2010 / Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, California / In this paper, we discuss ways in which web services can be used in future T&E scenarios, from the initial hardware setup to making dynamic configuration changes and data requests. We offer a comparison of this approach to other standards such as SNMP, FTP, and RTSP, describing the pros and cons of each as well as how these standards can be used together for certain applications.