TELEMETRY DATA ON DEMAND: THE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING THE TELEMETRY NETWORK REVOLUTION

Abstract

The telemetry network revolution takes aeronautical flight testing from a broadcast-only paradigm to a TM-data-on-demand paradigm. This paper explores this paradigm shift, focusing on fundamental architectural changes enabled by incorporating telemetry networking technologies into a flight test system. Two concepts are presented to help understand the TM-data-on-demand paradigm: retrieving and processing recorded data from a test article during a mission and onboard dynamic data analysis and compression. An example flight test system with both SST and TmNS components provides a foundation to further explore the paradigm-shifting capabilities a telemetry network brings to flight test. In addition to TM-data-on-demand, the current static spectrum allocation methodology must also be replaced with a more agile, bandwidth-on-demand paradigm. When both TM-data-on-demand and bandwidth-on-demand capabilities have been realized, a new era of efficient flight testing will emerge.