Wireless communications between system under test and portable maintenance aids

As the Department of Defense (DOD) downsizes there is a great need to reduce the maintenance burden. Currently systems in the DOD inventory utilize numerous hardware, interconnecting devices, and data and protocol to communicate diagnostics and maintenance information to external systems or maintainers. These communication devices always end up to be a big burden to the systems´ maintainers, in terms of weight and volume. Moreover, these interconnecting devices require the portable maintenance aide to be tethered to the weapon systems. This greatly confines the maintainers´ mobility and hence wastes maintenance manpower. The Advanced Technology Office (ATO), US Army Test, Measurement, and Diagnostic Equipment Activity (USATA), in Sep 1996, initiated proof-of-concept that a wireless remote-controllable communication device could be developed to untether maintainers with maintenance aides and systems or weapon systems. This paper provides a report on the development and design of this wireless remote-controllable communication device