Vehicle Telemetry Data in the Vertical Blanking Interval

Abstract

This paper describes how three different developments in digital and video technology have been exploited to provide for the automatic retrieval of data from video tape recordings. By application of the technique of vertical interval data insertion, a pair of 50-bit digital "words" are inserted into two lines of each TV field. The digital words are assembled from a BCD representation of IRIG-B time and both serial and parallel digital data from instrumentation associated with the vehicle. Retrieval of digital time and data annotation from a composite video signal's vertical interval is automatic and yields editing commands and digital data reduction at 3x tape play speeds. This paper defines the functional requirements, describes the implementation concept and provides illustrations of the pragmatic solutions.