2008 Annual Report - NASA Airborne Science Program
2008 Annual Report - NASA Airborne Science Program
2008 Annual Report - NASA Airborne Science Program
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Common Data &<br />
Communications Systems<br />
Full-scale development is underway<br />
on a new generation of airborne<br />
data systems that will be deployed<br />
on the core <strong>NASA</strong> science aircraft<br />
over the next several years.<br />
With the increasing availability of satellite<br />
communications systems for aircraft, the<br />
potential for greatly increasing the science<br />
utility of these platforms is becoming<br />
evident. Not only aircraft position, but<br />
actual data from the<br />
payload instruments can<br />
be broadcast to science<br />
teams on the ground,<br />
who<br />
can then actively adjust<br />
their experiment plans,<br />
and coordinate multiple<br />
platforms, in near realtime.<br />
For unattended<br />
instruments on platforms<br />
such as the ER-2 or Global<br />
Hawk, these bi-directional<br />
links can also be used<br />
to monitor instrument<br />
performance, conduct<br />
real-time diagnostics, and<br />
command changes to<br />
system parameters over<br />
the course of a mission.<br />
Some of these techniques<br />
have been previously demonstrated on the<br />
DC-8 aircraft using Iridium satellite phone<br />
modems, and were further refined in <strong>2008</strong><br />
on both the DC-8 and P-3 during the<br />
ARCTAS missions.<br />
Figure 41 (pg. 94) shows an overview of the<br />
new airborne communications architecture.<br />
Key elements of this new communication<br />
architecture include an onboard ethernet<br />
Figure 40<br />
A screen shot from the DC-8 in-flight science data system during one<br />
of the ARCTAS missions in Canada. The flight tracks of the DC-8 and<br />
P-3, together with weather radar, MODIS satellite fire detections and<br />
lightning strike data, are overlain on a Google Earth background.<br />
93