The Design of a Video Acquisition System for JSF

Abstract

The F-35 program, known as the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), is the largest DOD program ever awarded. There are three F-35 variations, each intended to meet the specific needs of the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and Allies. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter represents the newest advanced military aircraft to make use of Fibre Channel as its primary avionics information transport network. In addition to its use for carrying tactical information systems data, the Fibre Channel network will also transport the real-time digital video used in the cockpit; primarily the pilot's helmet mounted display (HMD) and the high-resolution configurable panoramic cockpit display (PCD). In addition to the fighter's instrumentation configuration for orange wire and avionics data, the aircraft will carry a separate instrumentation package to allow for both the recording and telemetry of either high-resolution Fibre Channel digital video or standard resolution analog video inputs during flight tests. This multiplexer is designed to record cockpit video and audio data, while supporting an option for the test engineer to select up to three out of eight video and audio inputs for real-time telemetry to the ground. This paper describes the architecture of this system, along with the techniques used to reduce the 5 MBps Fibre Channel digital video to a bandwidth acceptable for telemetry.