One of the core philosophies of the integrated Network Enhanced Telemetry (iNET) project is to leverage standard networking technologies whenever possible to both reduce development cost and to allow standard networking applications to function properly. This also provides the best long-term scalability to new unforeseen applications much as the Internet has grown through its open standards. Unfortunately, the Radio Frequency (RF) channel characteristics do not fully lend themselves to the typical physical layer approaches utilized by Internet Protocol (IP) technologies. The iNET project is developing the Telemetry Network System (TmNS) RF Network to provide a flexible two-way IP telemetry capability. The Developmental Flight Test (DFT) phase is currently under way to perform initial flight testing of the RF Network. This paper provides an overview of the planned RF network testing and the expected results. Current results from flight testing will be presented at the conference.

Southwest Research Institute® (SwRI) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) teamed to create a low-cost sensor to inspect in-service culverts in both wet and dry conditions. This sensor system, called the Ultrasonic Culvert Inspection System (UCIS) is suitable for mapping, monitoring, and diagnosing damage to roadway culverts using sonar mapping and live video. The sensor allows the inspector to evaluate culverts with minimal time, equipment, and cost to the sponsoring agency. Sonar information, collected as the probe travels through the culvert, can be combined with inertial measurement and distance data to produce a three-dimensional representation of the culvert that can be manipulated and viewed from many angles. A specially calibrated sonar scheme allows the sensor to be developed with inexpensive components, making this system appropriate for use in high-risk, flooded inspections. Tests reveal the sonar data have sufficient resolution to allow meaningful evaluation of the status and integrity of culverts. This paper describes the motivation, design, and implementation of the UCIS.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has launched an ambitious program to reduce the time it takes a military ground vehicle to go from concept to production by a factor of five. An important part of this program is accurate modeling of vehicle systems' behaviors, with the goal that the vehicle be "correct by construction." The Southwest Research Institute team's role in this program is to provide survivability context models, in this case for ballistic and blast protection. A multi-tiered approach is taken for ballistic modeling. Tier 1 is penetration or perforation estimates by regression analysis to data that is similar in impactor and target materials. Tier 2 is a suite of fast running physics-based penetration models, including an extension of the Walker-Anderson model to more complicated constitutive models. Tier 3 is the use of hydrocodes. The overarching design analysis tool chain of the Adaptive Vehicle Make (AVM) program will invoke these various tiers of models based on required accuracy and available computational time. The AVM program has a focus on both accuracy and uncertainty, and so all models are undergoing verification, validation and uncertainty quantification. A similar-in-concept blast modeling approach is also being developed.

In telemetric network systems, data extraction is often an after-thought. The data description frequently changes throughout the program so that last minute modifications of the data extraction approach are often required. This paper presents an alternative approach in which automation of measurement extraction is supported. The central key is a formal declarative language that can be used to configure instrumentation devices as well as measurement extraction devices. The Metadata Description Language (MDL) defined by the integrated Network Enhanced Telemetry (iNET) program, augmented with a generalized measurement extraction approach, addresses this issue. This paper describes the TmNS Data Extractor Tool, as well as lessons learned from commercial systems, the iNET program and TMATS.

The expected efficiency of network-based telemetry systems vs. the tried and true PCM-based approaches is a debated topic. This paper chooses to use a lighthearted voice to pull the two sides of the “war” to a table of negotiation based on metrics. Ultimately, focusing on metrics that truly define efficiency is the key to understanding the varying points of view. A table of these metrics along with the “why and when” criteria for their use is presented based on historic mathematical information theory, true flight test data requirements, and lab analysis. With these metrics, the negotiation and reasonable compromises in the war may become clear. In other words, this paper attempts to provide a methodology that can be used by the community to aid in choosing the appropriate (or good enough) technologies for current and future telemetry testing demands.

Network-based telemetry systems have unprecedented amounts of flexibility due to the ability to manipulate configuration during a test. As a result of this flexibility, multiple tests can be conducted in a single flight; all it takes is reconfiguration of instrumentation. However, configuration of devices can be a complex task, and dynamic configuration can be even more daunting. As such, device configuration, control, and status must be managed in a coordinated fashion. A system manager implementation that performs coordinated status and control of instrumentation in the Test Article as well as test configuration authoring is presented in this paper, the Ground Test Article Manager (GTAM), which is being developed by the integrated Network Enhanced Telemetry (iNET) program.

Describing data formats has gone a long way in providing a common thread for moving test programs from one test range to another without incurring massive code rewrites. The introduction of the IRIG 106-93 standard provided the Telemetry Attributes Transfer Standard (TMATS) to achieve interoperability between the test article and ground processing system. The integrated Network Enhanced Telemetry (iNET) Metadata Description Language (MDL) extends the concept to include descriptions of the equipment configuration and setup. This MDL declarative language is both vendor neutral and vendor customizable (where needed) and extends interoperability down to the individual components of the instrumentation system. This paper describes the current state of MDL and its use across intended vendor lines

One of the core philosophies of the integrated Network Enhanced Telemetry (iNET) project is to leverage standard networking technologies whenever possible to both reduce development cost and to allow standard networking applications to function. This paper presents decisions about the system's behavioral design and other decisions affecting the selection and design of system components. The TmNS is a network of networks that must be integrated into existing range processes. An overall guiding tenet for the TmNS is enhancement rather than replacement. As such, this enhancement is melded with pre-existing devices, approaches, and technologies. Overall, the pre-existing Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) data delivery mechanism is augmented with bi-directional, reliable, TmNS-provided communication.

A paper describes the Space- to-Space Communications System (SSCS) Software- Defined Radio (SDR) research project to determine the most appropriate method for creating flexible and reconfigurable radios to implement wireless communications channels for space vehicles so that fewer radios are required, and commonality in hardware and software architecture can be leveraged for future missions. The ability to reconfigure the SDR through software enables one radio platform to be reconfigured to interoperate with many different waveforms. This means a reduction in the number of physical radio platforms necessary to support a space mission s communication requirements, thus decreasing the total size, weight, and power needed for a mission.