2008 Annual Report - NASA Airborne Science Program

Figure 29
P-3 on ramp prior to departure from Thule
Air Base, Greenland, April 2008.
Iridium (with two channels of GPS) satellite
ethernet based data distribution system.
REVEAL consists of two instrumentation
boxes and servers all located in the
overhead bin area of the P-3. An Iridium
antenna “farm” is permanently mounted to
the aircraft at location FS480.
REVEAL allows investigators to receive
real time situational awareness using the
following capabilities:
• Real time flight tracking on the aircraft
and on the ground using Google Earth.
• Instant messaging capability between
multiple aircraft and ground based
assets.
• Access to the Internet in flight (2400
baud connection).
• Transfer of data between multiple
aircraft and ground based assets via a
ground based server.
• Data distribution throughout the P-3
cabin using ethernet connections.
A University of North Dakota data system
is also located in the overhead P-3 bins
next to REVEAL. This system uses three
of the six Iridium channels to perform
a backup uplink/downlink function for
REVEAL. Switching between the two
systems is automatic and invisible to the
investigator viewing the data stream.
The P-3 flew a total of 228 flight hours in
support of the airborne science program in
FY08.
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