Migrating Airborne Instrumentation Systems from PCM to Network

Abstract

The majority of currently operating flight test programs around the world utilize PCM-based airborne instrumentation systems. Most instrumentation engineers are very comfortable with PCM-based data acquisition systems, and feel uncomfortable when talking about network implementations and the adoption of iNET. In order for these engineers to embrace this new technology, migrating from a PCM to network topology must be done in an evolutionary manner that provides for the preservation of capital investment while introducing new system concepts that enhance current instrumentation systems. This paper describes hardware components that enable instrumentation engineers to migrate their existing PCM-based instrumentation system to a network-based system. Several of these components are discussed to illustrate how they provide a controlled migration path to a network-based system. These components include time distribution, gateways, network data selectors, network switches, transmitters, transceivers, and recorders.