TRENDS IN RANGE INSTRUMENTATION SYSTEMS

Abstract

T&E range instrumentation systems of diverse designs are located throughout the United States. Used for testing of aircraft weapons systems and missiles these systems are large, expensive, and unique to each site. New technologies now emerging are making possible the construction of small, inexpensive range instrumentation systems of common design and significant capability. Using industry-standard bus designs and distributed general-purpose microprocessors, these systems, while still using existing instrumentation, will be able to provide growth flexibility that is not inherent in today’s monolithic architectures. This paper will review the design and capabilities of a few systems currently under construction as well as describe what can be expected in the immediate future of range instrumentation systems with the transponders using multilateration techniques for position location and message handling. Range instrumentation (RI) systems of various forms have been in place since the testing of weapons systems began. As the technology evolved computers became integral parts of these systems, significantly expanding their capabilities both from the standpoint of data capture and data analysis. That this evolution is continuing can be demonstrated by two RI systems currently under construction: A fixed-site tracking system and mobile tracking system (the Mobile Sea Range, MSR). While these new systems define the state-ofthe-art in computer-based RI systems, new technologies now evolving and the budget-conscious climate that is likely to continue for many years will require changes in our thinking of what an RI system should look like and how it will be maintained. What follows is a brief description of both these fixed and mobile RI systems, an analysis of RI trends, and a few recommendations of what can be done to improve future systems.