| Advanced
Avionics Simulation at Patuxent River
When the Patuxent River Naval
Air Warfare Center (NAWC) needed a sophisticated
data acquisition system for preflight aircraft
testing, they chose the System 500 Model 550 because
it offered them a completely integrated commercial-off-the-shelf
(COTS) solution.
L-3 Communications Telemetry-West
supplied Patuxent River with six System 500 Model
550 chassis and ten workstations, which are being
used on the base by the Air Combat Environment
Test and Evaluation Facility’s (ACETEF) Operations
and Control Center (OCC). ACETEF is a totally
integrated ground test facility that performs
full spectrum stimulation for test and evaluation
of highly integrated aircraft and aircraft systems
in a secure and controlled engineering environment.
The Operations and Control Center,
responsible for testing at ACETEF, uses the 550
in real time to test, simulate, and acquire data
for preflight testing, avionics enhancement, and
upgrades to existing aircraft instrumentation.
The 550 is also used to simulate missing avionics
components so that aircraft can proceed through
their rigorous testing phases without incurring
costly delays.
Each Model 550 chassis in the
Patuxent River installation can decode and simulate
IRIG time and multiple MIL-STD-1553/MACair data
buses in real time, and simultaneously acquire
PCM and parallel digital data. The 550 processes
the acquired data, archives it, and displays selected
data on an associated workstation for post-analysis,
all in real time. Test engineers can thus
perform a thorough checkout of various military
aircraft data buses and determine how well such
key instruments as threat warning devices, radar
jammers, engine control units, and heads-up displays
are operating. Acquired data can also be
routed in real time to other engineering groups
who need it for their own analyses.
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