Processor enhances flight test debriefings

At its offices in Tucson, AZ, the Air National Guard Air Force Reserve Test Center (AATC) conducts flight and mission tests of aircraft, including the F-16 Fighting Falcon multi-role fighter aircraft. One of AATC's primary test functions is to evaluate Operational Flight Programs (OFPs) before they are released to field units.

The F-16 Fighting Falcon is just one of several types of aircraft that the Air National Guard Air Force Reserve Test Center flight tests. Courtesy of Lockheed Martin.

Prior Thwaits, AATC test support engineer, explains: "Each of the Test Center's F-16 aircraft is equipped with a TEAC Hi-8mm triple-deck ruggedized tape recorder to record these visuals. After each flight, typically of one to two hours' duration, we must quickly evaluate the overall system performance results and select any items that will require subsequent analysis and after action review (AAR)."

Each test can include up to four aircraft, so the debriefings and AARs require a compact display system that can depict four images simultaneously on one screen. For this system, the AATC selected RGB Spectrum's (Alameda, CA) 4View quad-display processor. It displays high-resolution images on high-scan-rate projectors and LCD displays.

Thwaits says, "One of the critical visuals that we need to display during the debriefings is the cockpit multifunction display (MFD). Many of the MFD legend characters and numerical fields reside on the very edges of the screen."

At the Tucson facility, flight personnel conduct debriefings with software developers, aircraft systems contractors, and the AATC testing support staff. All of the tapes from a flight of four aircraft can be viewed individually and in selectable combined views. Two debriefing rooms at the facility are equipped with systems comprising a display processor, four video switchers, and 12 tape decks providing synchronized playback.

The display processor receives four S-video signals, selected with a switcher, from any one of the three videotapes for each aircraft of the flight. These signals include the Out-the-Window (OTW) pilot's view through the Head-Up-Display (HUD), and two MFD images showing a variety of information such as radar, targeting pod, and Maverick missile scenes; situation awareness displays; or aircraft configuration, navigation, and weapons-control pages.

The display processor combines the four selected signals for display on a large LCD screen or presentation projector. The images are either displayed together in quad mode or individually when viewers need to emphasize a particular image of interest.

Frequently, AATC conducts flight-testing at other locations including Nellis AFB in Nevada, Hill AFB in Utah, and Eglin AFB in Florida. For debriefings at these facilities, AATC has designed the Deployment Debrief System (DDS), a self-contained portable system for convenient transport. Each of the four stations is housed in a single transit case and contains one display processor, three TEAC Hi-8mm tape decks, and a 17-in. LCD display.

For more information about the AATC, visit aatc.aztucs.ang.af.mil.