POST-FLIGHT DATA DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

Abstract

Desktop Processors (IBM PC, PC-compatible, and Macintosh) have made a major impact on how the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD}, Patuxent River engineering community performs their work in aircraft weapons tests. The personal processors are utilized by the flight-test engineers not only for report preparation, but also for post-flight Engineering Unit (EU) data reduction and analysis. Present day requirements direct a need for improved post-flight data handling than those of the past. These requirements are driven by the need to analyze all the vehicle's parameters prior to the succeeding test flight, and to generate test reports in a more cost effective and timely manner. This paper defines the post-flight data distribution system at NAWCAD, Patuxent River, explains how these tasks were handled in the past, and the development of a real-time data storage designed approach for post-flight data handling. This engineering design is then described explaining how it sets the precedence for NAWCAD, Patuxent River's future plans; and how it provides the flight-test engineer with the test vehicle's EU data immediately available post-flight at his desktop processor.