For decades, the flight test industry has relied on localized mission control rooms, where engineers and subject matter experts gather to analyze real-time data from an aircraft. However, the increasing need for interfacility cooperation and the global nature of modern aerospace programs have driven a demand for more flexible, distributed solutions. Thus we need to evaluate how core flight test data display, analysis, and reporting software operates in a cloud environment.
This white paper assesses the viability of using such software for real-time telemetry processing in a cloud-based setting, specifically, Curtiss-Wright’s IADS flight test software and Microsoft Azure services, to determine the potential benefits and challenges for distributed test operations.
Why Share Data to Different Locations?
For many years, the flight test industry has seen an ever-increasing need for interfacility cooperation and the use of standards-based resources. The IADS software suite for telemetry processing, display, and analysis is often treated as a common tool across government flight test facilities and commercial flight test operations. Such common tools can become particularly important when commercial manufacturers participate in test activities with their respective government customers.
Flight test engineers and subject matter experts are a primary resource for modern flight test activities, and they regularly need to travel around the world to participate in real-time analysis. With today’s communication and data infrastructure technology, there is an opportunity to extend the mission control room environment beyond the local facility. This extension could reduce the need for some of these resources to be physically present at the local test facility.
This paper is intended for review by flight test engineers, flight test data management personnel, and control room personnel to gain additional understanding about what capabilities and limitations might be possible, both in general and specifically by combining IADS with cloud resources. It is not intended as an exhaustive review of all the possibilities, but instead as a primer to encourage further exploration by the flight test community.
