Advanced Range Telemetry (ARTM): Preparing for a New Generation of Telemetry

Abstract

At open air test and training ranges, telemetry is beset by two opposing forces. One is the inexorable demand to deliver more information to users who must make decisions in ever shorter time frames. The other is the reduced availability of radio frequency spectrum, driven by its increased economic value to society as a whole. ARTM is planned to assure that test and training programs of the next several decades can meet their data quantity and quality objectives in the faces of these challenges. ARTM expects to improve the efficiency of spectrum usage by changing historical methods of acquiring telemetry data and transmitting it from systems under test to range customers. The program is initiating advances in coding, compression, data channel assignment, and modulation. Due to the strong interactions of these four dimensions, the effort is integrated in a single focused program. In that these are problems which are common throughout the test and training community, ARTM is a tri-service program embodying the DoD's Common Test and Training Range Architecture and Reliance principles in its management and organization. This paper will discuss the driving forces, the initial study areas, the organizational structure, and the program goals.