Practical Decom List Switching

Abstract

With more complex vehicle designs, the frequency and number of measurements contained in telemetry data streams has dramatically increased. One way of improving the use of bandwidth is to change the sample rate, quantity, or type of measurements dynamically. A telemetry front end must be programmable to handle different formats. In a front end that decommutates and routes measurements, a decom list is a control program, which defines the location, size, orientation, and identity of the measurements. To deal with dynamic format changes, a telemetry front end must be able to switch between decom lists. A practical approach to decom list switching must address the needs of error avoidance, packet switching, and the location of switching keys in any portion of the format. Switching between formats should not be restricted to a preprogrammed sequence, but should allow multiple destinations from a particular decom list. A practical and flexible implementation of decom list switching is detailed along with an explanation of how this implementation solves a variety of decommutation problems.