ETTC'2003 - SEE

Attendance at TRIUMF by both users and manufacturers was healthy for many years and
the forum proved to be a successful vehicle for sharing knowledge and resolving recording
related problems.
Industry trends
The convergence of audio, video, and data into the digital domain, coupled with the
movement to significantly higher data rates in telemetry and wide-band sensor data
acquisition applications led to the adoption of rotary head recording technology in order to
attain improved data transfer rates and volumetric capacity. Attempts to stipulate
standards in this arena were spectacularly unsuccessful (e.g. MIL-STD-2179) with the
commercial Industry dominating in both the domestic and professional markets. Thus the
proliferation of recording formats continued; the RCC adopting ½ inch and 19mm digital
recording formats for telemetry applications (based upon the use of SVHS and D1 videocassettes)
to achieve compatibility through equipment commonality.
Today’s data storage systems encompass a number of technologies, with magnetic tape,
disc, and solid state variants all to be found in telemetry applications. Storage device
transfer rates and capacities (volumetric densities) continue to increase at startling rates -
the capacity of hard discs have increased 100% per annum during the last three years,
whilst tape capacity doubles every eighteen months. [6]
Commercial markets invariably nowadays drive advances in storage technology, with the
consumer led volume sales being the catalyst for greater affordability and performance.
The trend is thus for equipment vendors to utilise these developing technologies in
instrumentation recording devices rather than strictly adhere to RCC standards. [7]
In order to realise interchange standards in acquisition and storage, against the backdrop
of a proliferation of media and formats, the RCC had to re-appraise the situation and adopt
a different approach. [8] IRIG standard 107–98 therefore addresses the need for
commonality at the data interface to facilitate interoperability whilst accommodating new
recording devices and communications technology.
Ongoing RCC tasks
Many of the major U.S. T&E Ranges continue to comment on the need for a common
(standardised) approach to telemetry data archiving and storage. The Range
Commanders Council continues to develop new, and update existing, standards to
maintain their relevance to the test and evaluation profession. The current RCC tasks
referenced below are pertinent to telemetry data storage and acquisition.
• TG – 47 Recorder command & control standard.
Task proceeding to schedule. The command structure in TG – 56 was adapted for this
task. Changes will be initially incorporated as appendix A of Chapter 10.
• TG – 56 Solid state recorder standard
Comments on pink sheets were received December 2002. Fibre channel documentation,
adopted from NATO STANAG 4575, is subject to further investigation.