Aeronautics and astronautics – Aircraft structure – Load accommodation
Reexamination Certificate
2001-03-05
2003-07-29
Gregory, Bernarr E. (Department: 3662)
Aeronautics and astronautics
Aircraft structure
Load accommodation
C244S003100, C244S11700R, C324S512000, C324S555000, C340S945000, C340S946000, C340S971000, C073S167000, C073S865300, C073S865900
Reexamination Certificate
active
06598828
ABSTRACT:
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention pertains to instrumenting platforms to acquire data. Acquired data may be recorded for later playback as well as provided to a platform operator in real time in multiple formats, such as warning lights, digital, video, or audio. A specific application employs a flight-certified missile launcher modified to hold instrumentation conforming, at least in part, to the launcher's internal dimensions, while enabling autonomous display and recording of data that may occur during severe environmental stress of the aircraft carrying the modified launcher.
BACKGROUND
Military aircraft may carry multiple missiles, an example being the air-to-air AIM-9X SIDEWINDER. An aircraft's missile station may combine a missile and its corresponding missile launcher, such as the LAU-7 missile launcher pod for the AIM-9X carried on an F/A-18. A fire control system, responsive to a pilot's input, communicates with each missile station to monitor status, prepare for launch, and launch. A weapon system interface transfers the commands from the fire control system as data for monitoring and controlling the missile stations.
The weapon system interface includes an umbilical and may include a data link. The umbilical provides communications between the fire control system and missile prior to launch, while the data link provides communications post-launch to some missile types, the AIM-9X not being of this type. For “on-range” testing, the AIM-9X may have a telemetry data link installed in place of the warhead for the purpose of telemetering data to a receiver station on the range. To preserve resources and reduce costs, many flight tests of missiles are “captive carry” tests, i.e., the missile is not launched but its seeker is activated and the aircraft flown as a simulated missile to determine missile seeker performance against a variety of targets and target backgrounds. Such captive carry missions may also include training exercises for pilots, weapons controllers, load crews, test range instrumentation personnel, or other operators, as well as missile system performance testing.
For conventional missiles, a simple connector can be used to route data using cabling pre-installed in the aircraft wings. Thus, a functioning missile may be represented as a simulation to the aircraft's fire control system. While this capability has achieved some success, it has inherent disadvantages in capturing the data acquired during the test or simulated operation. For example, it requires a ground telemetry station to capture and record data for real-time data acquisition and post-analysis.
Various systems have been employed to simulate missile functions during training and testing, both on the ground and in the air. One such device for simulating pre-launch conditions only, is the Integration Test Vehicle (ITV), a specially modified AMRAAM missile. The ITV is completely inert, replacing the warhead with a telemetry unit. However, a simple connector cannot be used with AMRAAM adapted missile stations since the interface to the AMRAAM includes a more complex combination of discrete signals and MIL-STD-1553 serial data with specific timing requirements imposed thereon. Other simulators incorporate unique software specifically designed to function only with a specific missile variant as installed on a specific aircraft variant.
A conventional test apparatus and method is represented by that of U.S. Pat. No. 5,614,896
, Method and System for Aircraft Weapon Station Testing
, issued to Monk et al., Mar. 25, 1997, in which each of a number of an aircraft's weapon stations is able to be function tested via a portable test station incorporating a common electronics module and interchangeable mechanical fixtures. This testing may be done only while the aircraft is on the ground, however.
One of the ways to conduct tests of a missile's function is to simulate an actual launch from an aircraft. To simulate a missile while airborne, various simulators have been devised, an example being one represented in U.S. Pat. No. 5,624,264
, Missile Launch Simulator
, issued to Houlberg, Apr. 29, 1997, and incorporated herein by reference. This simulator provides a realistic simulation of the launch of a missile from an aircraft weapon station incorporating a launcher. The flight of the aircraft and missile are simulated on the ground, however, with vibration and other environmental forces encountered by an actual flight estimated mathematically, if at all.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,591,031
, Missile Simulator Apparatus
, issued to Monk et al., Jan. 7, 1997, describes an apparatus to be used for pilot training that incorporates a pre-launch module, and a data link and data capture module in an inert form-factored missile body for recording all data transfer between the aircraft and the apparatus during the flight. The modifications are incorporated in the missile itself, rather than the aircraft's onboard launcher, hence, only modified missiles are suitable for these training missions.
For each of the above situations, a common disadvantage is the inability to take a missile from stock, mount it on an aircraft and fly it in an “all out” captive test. The present invention overcomes this and other limitations of the above conventional systems while also providing a new capability for a pilot or other operator to redirect a mission based on onboard real time inputs.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a method and apparatus for configuring an instrumentation package on an aircraft to acquire data autonomously while airborne. The instrumentation package is specifically configured to fit within the interior volume of an existing structure that has been certified at least as to its strength, weight, center of gravity (COG), and Moment of Inertia (MOI). Devices that may exist within the interior volume of the structure may be removed to provide space for the instrumentation. An example existing structure is a flight certified missile launcher (launcher pod) carried on an external stores station of a high performance aircraft. The launcher pod serves as a launcher for a missile such as an air-to-air missile used by the U.S. military. Some launchers have an “air bottle” installed to facilitate cryogenic cooling of the infrared detector on conventional missiles such as the Navy SIDEWINDER AIM-9M. High pressure gas flows from the launcher to the AIM-9M via a thin metal tube in the same umbilical that carries electrical cabling to the missile from the aircraft. The AIM-9X version of SIDEWINDER has a “closed cycle cooler” internal to the AIM-9X, thus the air bottle is not required to be installed in the launcher when an AIM-9X is carried on the launcher station. This air bottle, normally filled with nitrogen (N
2
) at high pressure, thus, hereinafter referred to as an N
2
bottle, and its supporting structure may be removed and replaced with the form-fit instrumentation package.
The instrumentation package may comprise:
a digital recorder that has suitable flash memory, such as flash RAM, for a typical airborne test mission of one hour or more;
circuitry for connection to the recorder, various power supplies and an interface to the aircraft and at least one missile that is carried on the weapon station carrying the launcher; and
connections from the circuitry to various sources of data to include aircraft avionics, displays, missile seeker and controls, and power supplies both internal to the launcher pod and supplied by the aircraft.
The instrumentation package may be configured without changing the external physical configuration of the aircraft or other platform on which it is installed. Further, the installed configuration may minimize requirements for additional certification
Clark Keith E.
Donohue Patrick
Fiebick Wayne A.
Oah Sue
Gregory Bernarr E.
Kalmbaugh David
The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of
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