METADATA MODELING FOR AIRBORNE DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEMS

Abstract

Many engineers express frustration with the multitude of vendor specific tools required to describe measurements and configure data acquisition systems. In general, tools are incompatible between vendors, forcing the engineer to enter the same or similar data multiple times. With the emergence of XML technologies, user centric data modeling for the flight test community is now possible. With this new class of technology, a vendor neutral, standard language to define measurements and configure systems may finally be realized. However, the allure of such a universal language can easily become too abstract, making it untenable for hardware configuration and resulting in a low vendor adoption rate. Conversely, a language that caters too much to vendor specific configuration will defeat its purpose. Achieving this careful balance is not trivial, but is possible. Doing so will produce a useful standard without putting it out of the reach of equipment vendors. This paper discusses the concept, merits, and possible solutions for a standard measurement metadata model. Practical solutions using XML and related technologies are discussed.