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 / The Western Aeronautical Test Range (WATR) at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC) employs the WATR Integrated Next Generation System (WINGS) for the processing and display of aeronautical flight data. This report discusses the post-mission segment of the WINGS architecture. A team designed and implemented a system for the near- and long-term storage and distribution of mission data for flight projects at DFRC, providing the user with intelligent access to data. Discussed are the legacy system, an industry survey, system operational concept, high-level system features, and initial design efforts.

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 / For the final evaluation of a GPS attitude determination algorithm, it was determined its true performance in terms of its accuracy, reliability and dynamic response. To accomplish that, a flight test campaign was carried out to validate the attitude determination algorithm. In this phase, the measured aircraft attitude was compared to a reference attitude, to allow the determination of the errors. The system was built using non-dedicated THALES Z-FX airborne GPS receivers and a complete Flight Tests Instrumentation (FTI) System. Each GPS receiver operates synchronized with its internal time base. The FTI measurements are synchronized to an IRIG-B time base. All time bases have their own random walk characteristic. To avoid C/A code ambiguity, when its internal time base approaches ±1ms error from the GPS time, its clock is then corrected causing time and phase observables discontinuities. A multiple time base synchronization process was developed to correlate GPS and FTI data. The results are presented and the residual errors were considered acceptable. These data allowed the determination of the performance and accuracy of the GPS attitude determination algorithm. The tests profiles are fully compliant with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Advisory Circular (AC) 25-7A.

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 / One of the most important characteristics of an aircraft is its capability to return to its stable trimmed flight state after the occurrence of a disturbance or gust without the pilot intervention. The evaluation of such behavior, known as the aircraft stability, is divided into three sections: Lateral; Directional; and Longitudinal stabilities. The determination of the stability of an experimental aircraft requires the execution of a Flight Test Campaign (FTC). For the stability FTC the test bed should be equipped with a complete Flight Test Instrumentation (FTI) System which is typically composed by: a Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) Data Acquisition System (DAS); A sensor set; An airborne transmitter; and A data recorder. In the real-time operations, live data received over the Telemetry Link, that are processed, distributed and displayed at the Ground Telemetry System (GTS) enhances the FTC safety level and efficiency. The due to the lack of reliability, recorded data is retrieved in the post mission operations to allow the execution of data reduction analysis. This process is time consuming because recorded data has to be downloaded, converted to Engineering Units (EU), sliced, filtered and processed. The reason for the usage of this less efficient process relies in the fact that the real-time Telemetry data is less reliable as compared to recorded data (i.e. noisier). The upcoming iNET technology could provide a very reliable Telemetry Link. Therefore the data reduction analysis can be executed with live telemetry data in quasi-real time after the receipt of all valid tests points. In this sense the Brazilian Flight Test Group (GEEV) along with EMBRAER and with the support of Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (FINEP) started the development of several applications. This paper presents the design of a tool used in the Longitudinal Static Stability Flight Tests Campaign. The application receives the Telemetry data over either a TCP/IP or a SCRAMnet Network, performs data analysis and test point validation in real time and when all points are gathered it performs the data reduction analysis and automatically creates Hyper Terminal Markup Language (HTML) formatted tests reports. The tool evaluation was executed with the instruction flights for the 2009 Brazilian Flight Test School (CEV). The result shows an efficiency gain for the overall FTC.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 25-28, 1993 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / This paper describes the recently developed Loral Instrumentation ground-based equipment used to select and process post-flight test data from the Boeing 777 airplane as it is played back from a digital tape recorder (e.g., the Ampex DCRSi II) at very high speeds. Gigabytes (GB) of data, stored on recorder cassettes in the Boeing 777 during flight testing, are played back on the ground at a 15-30 MB/sec rate into ten multiplexed Loral Instrumentation System 500 Model 550s for high-speed decoding, processing, time correlation, and subsequent storage or distribution. The ten Loral 550s are multiplexed for independent data path processing from ten separate tape sources simultaneously. This system features a parallel multiplexed configuration that allows Boeing to perform critical 777 flight test processing at unprecedented speeds. Boeing calls this system the Parallel Multiplexed Processing Data (PMPD) System. The key advantage of the ground station's design is that Boeing engineers can add their own application-specific control and setup software. The Loral 550 VMEbus allows Boeing to add VME modules when needed, ensuring system growth with the addition of other LI-developed products, Boeing-developed products or purchased VME modules. With hundreds of third-party VME modules available, system expansion is unlimited. The final system has the capability to input data at 15 MB/sec. The present aggregate throughput capability of all ten 24-bit Decoders is 150 MB/sec from ten separate tape sources. A 24-bit Decoder was designed to support the 30 MB/sec DCRSi III so that the system can eventually support a total aggregate throughput of 300 MB/sec. Clearly, such high data selection, rejection, and processing will significantly accelerate flight certification and production testing of today's state-of-the-art aircraft. This system was supplied with low level software interfaces such that the customer would develop their own applications specific code and displays. The Loral 550 lends itself to this kind of applications due to its VME chassis, VxWorks operating system and the modularity of the software.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 26-29, 1998 / Town & Country Resort Hotel and Convention Center, San Diego, California / As aircraft become more complex and require more resources over larger areas, the challenge of the test ranges is to provide economical solutions to move telemetry data from the test article to the data processing facility. Edwards AFB is in the process of upgrading the ground transmission facilities to transport data including telemetry using Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM). This paper documents the challenge of supporting telemetry over ATM, different approaches that are available, the benefits of using ATM, and discussion of candidate hardware options. The effort at Edwards include the linking of the major range facilities over a fiber optic backbone and links to other major test ranges in the Southwest Range Complex via microwave. The fiber optic backbone is expected to be OC-12c (622 Mbps) ATM supporting new capabilities as well as all of the legacy systems. The backbone system will be designed so that migration to OC-48 is possible without service disruption. The microwave links are multiple DS-3 capable. Some of these DS-3s may support legacy systems, but the ability to link ranges using ATM is expected simultaneously.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 20-23, 2003 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / The architecture and capabilities of Navy Flight Test’s latest generation telemetry system are described. The Real-time Telemetry Processing System (RTPS) is the name ascribed to successive systems at the Patuxent River Navy Flight Test complex since 1973. This version of the system, dubbed RTPS IV, and the associated facility improvements will enable the Navy to support the next generation military fighter, the Joint Strike Fighter, and every other ongoing and planned Navy test program.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 23-26, 2000 / Town & Country Hotel and Conference Center, San Diego, California / This paper presents an overview of the telemetry attributes management system used to support the Advanced Data Acquisition and Processing System (ADAPS) at the Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC). The Joint Test Data Management System is an object-oriented system used to store telemetry attributes. JTDMS accepts telemetry attributes in a variety of formats and provides setup files for the ADAPS system.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 26-29, 1987 / Town and Country Hotel, San Diego, California / The Telemetry Systems Operation (TSO) of CSC in Lompoc, California, has been developing telemetry systems since October 1981. Three major turnkey systems have been developed as well as several smaller derivative systems. Each system, built for a different end-user, was custom fit to support unique requirements and often represented several different techniques for accommodating similar problems within different system architectures. This paper describes the evolution of TM system architectures developed by TSO Lompoc, and the special engineering problems solved in the course of their development to provide the user with accommodating telemetry systems that are responsive, expandable, and cost-effective.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 22-25, 2001 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / This paper proposes a modification of the high alphabet method of data transmission over an RF carrier. The system maps eleven characters into three tones. The three tones are Frequency Modulated onto an RF carrier. The 165 unique characters can be utilized for data transmission. The advantages of this system are: 1. Longer duration data words which have narrow bandwidth yielding a high signal to noise ratio. 2. Digital Signal Processing can be utilized to reconstruct characters from the tri-tone encoding. 3. The system will be less susceptible to external interference than normal Frequency Shift Keying system. The majority of the three tone burst would have to masked in order to loose a data word.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 28-31, 1996 / Town and Country Hotel and Convention Center, San Diego, California / With the technological evolution of flying equipment, computing and store capacity we need to have a new view of the methods of acquisition, storage and archiving data.