C-17 TEST DATA ARCHIVE EFFORT

Abstract

During the era 2000-2002, the U.S. Air Force C-17 Follow-on Flight Test Program (FOFTP) transitioned to total bulk data collection employing the Veridian OMEGA™ Intelligent Multiplexer (IMUX) and associated Series 3000 Telemetry Processor. Advanced planning for the data management was deficient; engineers and analysts were overwhelmed by the actual quantity of instrumentation data collected, at a rate of 2- to 3-gigabytes per flight test hour. In fiscal year (FY) 2003, the Test Director initiated comprehensive planning for management of the C-17 data elements. Including the bulk instrumentation data collected, this plan also addressed the management of programmatic information and correlation from the test definition program phase through the archiving of test reporting Information. The envisioned end-state of the C-17 test data archive effort, also referred to as the C-17 Enterprise Test Data Management System (ETDMS), seeks to provide the C-17 Test Team with cradle-to-grave data management at a level unprecedented in the flight test community and is described herein. Once funding was received, the C-17 Integrated Product Team (IPT) has aggressively moved into deploying the C-17 ETDMS at the Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC) located at Edwards Air Force Base, California. Five modest objectives were set for the effort at initiation; these were: ���� Objective 1: Establish C-17 Technical Library; Complete Deployment of LiveLink Distribution System ���� Objective 2: Improve Data Analysis (Telemetry) Toolset and Products; Train Users ���� Objective 3: Modernize Legacy Databases/Applications (Measurands, Calibrations, Generation of the Test Parameter Requirements [TPR] Document) ���� Objective 4: Fix the Test Planning and Test Point Tracking User Interface ���� Objective 5: Implement the Approved ETDMS Framework The C-17 ETDMS will link the many geographically separated users of C-17 test results in near real-time. Thus, providing the program decision-makers with the information required to support the current worldwide combat operations tempo by joint force elements as exhibited during the recent deployments and sustainment of operations in the Southwest Asian AOR. Collaterally, the C-17 ETDMS will support the efforts of our co-located NASA-Dryden colleagues seeking to improve the abilities of our National Airspace System (NAS) to support industry initiatives such as aircraft health monitoring and “call-ahead” maintenance planning. Currently ahead of schedule and within projected costs boundaries, the C-17 ETDMS will provide government off-the-shelf (GOTS)/commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solutions to the C- 17 test community during FY 2005.