Instrumentation and Data Processing Efficiencies Employed on the P-8A Poseidon System Development and Demonstration Program

Abstract

The P-8A Poseidon is a long-range anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft. The Test & Evaluation data requirements for the System Development and Demonstration (SDD) phase far exceed any Boeing military program to date. The data requirements include MIL-STD-1553, Gigabit Ethernet, 10/100 Ethernet, NTSC, Video/Audio, ARINC 429, RS232, CAN and PCM data in addition to being CAIS and RTPS compatible. The strategy for the design of the instrumentation and data processing architecture was to create a common system that could be used for data acquisition and processing for all seven test articles and used for both flight and ground testing. The common approach enables efficiencies and benefits to be shared in all testing and reduces the overall cost to the program.