DIGITAL DATA RECORDING: NEW WAYS IN DATA PROCESSING

Abstract

With the introduction of digital data recorders new ways of data processing have been developed. The three most important improvements are discussed in this paper: A) By processing PCM Data from a digital recorder by using the SCSI-Interface our ground station has developed software to detect the synchronization pattern of the PCM data and then perform software frame decommutation. Many advantages will be found with this method. B) New digital recorders already use the CCSDS Standard as the internal recording format. Once this technique is implemented in our ground station’s software and becomes part of our software engineering team’s general know-how, the switch to CCSDS telemetry in the future will require no quantum leap in effort. C) Digital recorders offer a very new application: Writing data to a digital tape in the recorder’s own format, allows the replay of data using the recorder’s interfaces; i.e. writing vibration data from the host system to tape, using the analog format of the digital recorder, allows the analysis of the data either in analog form, using the analog interface of the recorder, or in digital form.