Real-Time Flight Test Control and Data Acquisition for Aircraft-Carried Weapons Systems

The Airborne Instrumentation Branch of the U.S. Naval Ordnance Test Station (NOTS), China Lake, has developed a real-time data gathering and flight test technique for weapon-system development testing. This technique uses a telemetry ground station with UHF communications equipment, a real-time digital computer, and data displays. Telemetered data from an aircraftcarried weapon system and an air-data unit are processec ana displayed during the test. Both analog and digital information are presented to a weapon-system engineer on direct-print oscillograph paper. The engineer who acts as the test director is able to change the test conditions during a test to achieve the desired results. This dynamic method of testing shortens the development period of a weapon system by reducing the time required to gather and evaluate performance data.