Generic Telemetry Processing in the Control Center Environment at Johnson Space Center

Abstract

This paper will describe the effort to provide a common telemetry system for the Control Center Complex (CCC) which will process data from both the space shuttle and the space station vehicles. It is being developed for the manned spaceflight program at Johnson Space Center. Space shuttle uses a traditional Inter-Range Instrumentation Group (IRIG) telemetry format and Space Station Freedom utilizes the more recently developed Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) standards for packet-based telemetry Although the two telemetry streams are very different in structure, a front end system is being developed which will isolate the differences and provide a common data format to the downstream elements of the control center. Because of this, a CCC workstation could receive and process data from either space station or space shuttle or both using a identical set of workstation program tools. The generic telemetry front end processor, which is called the Consolidated Communications Facility (CCF), will not only provide a cost effective method of processing space shuttle and space station data, but also will position the CCC to support anticipated requirements of' future programs. The development goals for the CCC are to reduce development and sustaining costs. In the CCF project, commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) equipment is stressed to allow modular maintenance. In addition, the project has emphasized the development of a automated features in the telemetry stream selection and processing which reduce the amount of operator attention needed. The system has been designed to include robotics in the recording operation and artificial intelligence for detecting faults. This paper will review the concept development for processing telemetry and outline the architecture of the front end CCF project. It will discuss the goals and major influences on the design, and provide a status on the development. Ability of the current COTS marketplace to meet the goals will be discussed. In summation, this paper will describe generic telemetry processing in the context of the CCC being built at Johnson Space Center.