the space shuttle is in orbit and
members of a highly specialized team at
NASA's Ames Dryden Flight Research
Facility are tracking its progress in
two days the orbiter will re-enter
Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean
it'll perform an intricate series of
slowing maneuvers and glide to a
successful landing at Edwards Air Force
Base
here we come
21
I'm here
but appears down altitude 300 feet just
to 800 feet me into the runway
and the main gear down
does your secure a touchdown and
emission lap time of six days 56 minutes
4 seconds nose gear down in six days 56
minutes 16 seconds Edwards is the home
of NASA's Ames Dryden Flight Research
Facility the nerve center of three sites
supporting a highly evolved technology
network called the Western aeronautical
test range the range is a key facility
in NASA's aeronautical and space
research and a major national resource
its development is a critical
achievement in flight testing today's
experimental aircraft the range
furnished precision monitoring for the
orbiter during its crucial end of
mission maneuvers and helped it guide
the ship to a safe landing the first
sonic boom was heard at Dryden on
october fourteenth 1947 when Chuck
Yeager flew the x1 experimental rocket
powered airplane through the sound
barrier facilities and equipment for
air-to-ground monitoring of test flights
were primitive flight research results
depended mainly on air-to-air chase
observations and recording data on board
for later examination in 1959 NASA began
testing the x-15 rocket plane this air
launched highly experimental test
vehicle reached altitudes far outside
the atmosphere and flew at unprecedented
speeds no chase plane could keep up with
it testing the x-15 absolutely depended
on immediate sophisticated air-to-ground
communications tracking and data
acquisition unlike previous research
aircraft the x-15 with its high energy
management requirements demanded
real-time tracking and voice
communication to accomplish its mission
to test the x-15 Dryden engineers
developed a complex system for flight
monitoring a system that went far beyond
anything yet known they called it the
x-15 high range the range allowed
researchers on the ground to try
the x-15 throughout its entire mission
monitor its data during quite and
maintain radio contact with the pilot it
enabled investigators to deal with data
in real time during experimental flights
and change plans during flight this
greatly increased each missions
effectiveness and save time and program
costs it also made flight testing safer
Dryden engineering teams set up remote
sites at Ely and beatty nevada to
accommodate the great speeds of the x-15
for testing high speed long-range
aircraft EV and Beatty became outer
perimeters of the high range the Western
aeronautical test range of today is the
high range grown up a working
integration of state-of-the-art
communications tracking equipment
computers and electronic display systems
the result of creative engineering
proven by continuous application these
systems provide the laboratory needed to
test today's high performance air and
spacecraft the Mission Control Center is
the focal point of the range this is
where everything comes together here
supremely advanced systems such as the
master graphics interactive console or
magic display give researchers a unique
edge in flight testing magic is an
interactive high-resolution easy-to-use
tool which allows investigators to see
your ol time history and cross plots on
command it opens new capabilities in
changing parameters during flight thus
saving valuable time and optimising
information yield here the real-time
interactive map or rim is helping
advance Flight Research this is an
intelligent graphic workstation that
instantly shows an aircraft's flight
position with respect to geographic
location rim tracks displays and
computes time distance measurements
functions done previously with pen and
paper it immediately projects flight
paths on command allows the controller
to chain
perspective by zooming in on areas of
interest and warns the flight controller
when his aircraft is approaching a
restricted area rim reduces workload on
the host computer which is free to
perform other critical mission related
tasks more efficiently the f-18 high
alpha spin display demonstrates how
innovative graphics systems can be
tailored to meet requirements of a
specific program this presentation
details precisely and in real-time such
critical information as yaw rate
airspeed altitude and spin conditions
for high-risk flight research programs
such advanced systems greatly simplify
the work of the range control officer
whose job it is to determine how well
the range is operating they vastly
increased findings of the principal
investigator and his team during a
mission and the quantity and quality of
work achieved by the flight controller
who coordinates the test aircraft chase
plane and control tower they enhance
flight safety monitoring and the
capabilities of the aircraft operations
director and flight safety officer the
output of all mission control systems
depends on data drawn in real time from
all other elements of the range the
aeronautical tracking facilities the
communications building the real-time
processing and display systems Dryden
has two tracking facilities their
antenna systems provide radar and
telemetry for command uplink and
downlink research data their equipment
contract local test flights or
satellites orbiting at altitudes
exceeding 32,000 miles during Space
Shuttle missions support technicians use
the facilities to track the shuttle in
orbit and during reentry
these stations are the acquisition
points for all research data from air
and spacecraft and the points for
primary command uplink the
communications building provides the
radiofrequency link which allows
aircraft and spacecraft to talk to
ground kontrol it provides air to ground
communication between pilots and
engineers in all of emissions
participating aircraft and backup
command app link to research vehicles
the telemetry processing room houses
many of the ranges real-time processing
and display systems today's high
performance test aircraft produce such
huge quantities of data that human
investigators working on their own can't
begin to interpret and use them during a
mission these systems rely on computers
for quick real-time processing and
conversion of raw data into real time
information that researchers and pilots
can respond to during a flight the
real-time processing and display systems
generate organized results on control
room monitors and strip chart recorders
a vital part of today's Western
aeronautical test range is the Moffett
flight complex in Northern California
based at Ames Research Center on Naval
Air Station Moffett Field this is one of
the country's prime test sites for
powered lift and rotorcraft vehicles a
new satellite link the nasscom
integrated system digital network
generally shortened tune is done and a
process called time division multiple
access allow Moffett and Dryden each to
monitor flights at the others facility
and at their remote locations because
the area surrounding Moffett Field has
grown increasingly congested researchers
here conduct many of their sea-level
altitude tests at crows landing in the
San Joaquin Valley while crows landing
is equipped to support these flight
tests much of the real-time monitoring
and post mission processing is done from
Moffett Field range versatility is
giving researchers vast new capabilities
and opening great new vistas in research
flight testing at the same time
sophisticated new research projects are
demanding new case
abilities of the range there is a
growing need to test experimental
aircraft at remote locations engineers
have answered this need by developing
the mobile research flight test support
capability generally known as the
Western aeronautical test range mobile
system created for total adaptability
the mobile system can go virtually
anywhere and get to work immediately on
arrival its air ride suspension protects
the delicate equipment inside during
hauling either over ground or by air its
first run supporting the advanced
fighter technology integration f-16 in
tests at Nellis Air Force Base proved
completely successful and demonstrated
that it can handle real-time processing
and display and communications with the
airplane and Mission Control at Dryden
an outstanding example of resourceful
design the fully equipped trailer can
perform all of the functions normally
done in the control room at Moffett or
Dryden it's approximately twenty six
hundred cubic feet can store the
six-foot telemetry antenna during moves
when the trailer arrives at a test site
expandable 18-foot sections on either
side of the computer banks open to
provide 630 additional cubic feet of
space highly compact computer banks
receive store and process data for the
trailers major components telemetry
communications real-time and post
mission processing display and strip
charts and a full remotely piloted
research vehicle cockpit which permits
remote operation of an unmanned aircraft
the trailer can operate independently or
interface with a mission control center
because it is highly automated two
people can handle operations and
maintenance the trailers reinforced roof
supports the deployed directional
antenna which accommodates both tracking
and communications the antenna can
receive and transmit in the L s and C
bands when the trailer reaches its full
capability the system will include a
mobile earth station radar system and
frequency van
heavily dependent on the range and the
mobile trailer is a joint army NASA
rotor air loads program this project is
using a blackhawk and other helicopters
to discover what stresses rotor blades
encountered during flight researchers
will measure a total of 250 pressure
points on the blades all of these
measurements require extreme precision
and real-time transmission to both brown
control and a tape recorder on board
this place is enormous demands on range
equipment requirements for acoustical
testing and a variety of flight modes
call for flying in different locations
including Edwards and crows landing
ground instrumentation for these flights
is programmed dedicated very costly and
not practical to install in all control
rooms the mobile trailer allows
researchers to make a single
installation which they can move from
one location to another Ames researchers
are using Crows Landing to conduct tests
with the Harrier this remarkable
aircraft flies successfully both as a
vertical takeoff vehicle and as a
high-performance fighter investigators
are using it to explore flight dynamics
propulsion controls and display for
short and vertical takeoff and landing
vehicles they expect these tests to
result in advanced design concepts for
aircraft of the future Harrier flights
generate a great amount of information
and rely heavily on range data
acquisition facility the range has been
indispensable in supporting this
uniquely versatile aircraft called the
tiltrotor the cells mounted on its wings
tilt upward to make it fly like a
helicopter or 90 degrees forward
allowing it to fly like an airplane with
the tiltrotor ames research has produced
an extremely successful working aircraft
from which the marine corps production
tiltrotor v-22 was derived Dryden is
where aims tests high-performance
airplanes clean dry desert air and
sparsely populated terrain make this
location ideal for researching
high-speed jet and rocket-powered
aircraft
the f18 high alpha research vehicle is
pushing high-performance to
unprecedented extremes using a modified
pre-production f-18 is testbed this
program is working to improve fighter
performance at high angles of attack
this is possible only if engineers learn
precisely how air vortices flow during
high angle maneuvers both on and off the
airplane surface to study on surface
flows investigators released colored dye
during specific maneuvers over areas of
interest such as the nose and wing and
photograph the resulting patterns this
information also is down linked in real
time for immediate assessment off
surface flows show up clearly when an
onboard generator in its smoke over the
f-18s leading-edge extension a video
camera in a nearby chase plane and
another inside the f-18 showing precise
vortex closed the airplane carries a
total of four strategically placed on
board video cameras this program is
completely dependent on the range during
test flights the f-18 down links to
video signals and two streams of
telemetry data it depends on the ranges
command uplink capability for trajectory
guidance the program specific high alpha
spin display is critical to carrying out
F 18 missions since it defines emergency
recovery procedures for any loss of
control situation that might occur the
f-15 places enormous real-time
computation and display demands on the
range because its engine is heavily
loaded with instrumentation researchers
are using the f-15 to develop methods
for reducing pilot workload if they can
create systems that take over basic
operating tasks pilots will be freed for
other critical activities such as
responding to threats or setting up
weapons systems the program team is
working on developing a trajectory
guidance system a computer which they
have mounted in the airplanes ammunition
bay calculates airspeed and altitude
with no assistance from the pilot
aircraft and engine command then can be
supplied either to the pilot through the
heads-up display or directly to the
aircraft in
automatic mode this technology
significantly reduces pilot workload the
range with its magic and rim displays is
uniquely equipped to support this
program these advanced interactive
displays allow f15 team members to view
in real time the airplanes trajectory
three miles behind and seven ahead of
its present position at the same time
they also can watch the aircraft's round
track with reference to restricted areas
and monitor processed parameters
critical to the flight should any fault
or failure occur on board these displays
will flag it immediately the advanced
fighter technology integration called
fdf 16 is another demanding program that
puts extremely heavy loads on the range
FD is a joint NASA Air Force program the
aircraft a highly modified version of
the f-16 Fighting Falcon has been
expanding the limits of flight since
1981 equipped with a unique set of
computer driven control surfaces the
afty can execute maneuvers impossible
with any other aircraft after his total
dependence on computers and
experimentation with flight modes never
before attempted make the range a
crucial part of testing this airplane a
heads-up display which superimposes
critical flight data over the cockpit
window allows the pilot to monitor
instrumentation readings without looking
away from the flight path range tracking
facilities simultaneously feed this
picture to researchers in the control
room allowing them to monitor in
real-time what the pilot is seeing
currently the f-16 working to improve
close air support in Europe is checking
technologies such as automated attack
digital map systems for poor weather and
night flying and target acquisition from
ground control this testing utilizing
computer-based artificial intelligence
uses great amounts of data and requires
the capacity to profit from in-flight
Corrections and change the test agenda
the range gives afty critical support
which is not available anywhere else
it's systems during flight offer more
processed data in easily used form
rim figures importantly by letting
flight controllers reprogram for
restricted altitudes fd's multiple
program requirements and exacting test
schedule demand optimal return from test
flights and the range makes this
possible effectively and safely some of
the flight experimentation performed at
Dryden has been so hazardous that
researchers ruled out the use of onboard
pilots for these high-risk programs they
developed remotely piloted research
vehicles called RP RVs the spin research
vehicle was a characteristic RP RV it
was carried aloft under the wing of a
b-52 then air-launched typical of all
air-launched vehicles RP RVs require
precise coordination of carrier test
aircraft and chase plane they consume
enormous quantities of range support
pilots fly remotely piloted research
vehicles from cockpits on the ground
depending completely on telemetry
provided by the range to receive sensory
information from and send commands to
the airplane the ranges advanced antenna
systems supply the primary command
uplink to all of the RP RVs the
complexity of flight maneuvers
accommodated by this impressive system
was demonstrated dramatically in the
testing of hi Matt short for highly
maneuverable aircraft technology hi Matt
was one of Dryden's most spectacular RP
RVs at about 3,400 pounds and less than
half the size of an average fighter it
allowed testing of a highly experimental
configuration at considerably less cost
than would have been the case with a man
rated vehicle hi Matt was designed to be
more maneuverable than any existing
fighter and made turns pulling up to
eight and a half times the force of
Earth's gravity such maneuvers would
cause extreme discomfort to even an
experienced test pilot
the range antenna systems with their
enormous capacity enabled the pilot to
perform even the most complicated
maneuvers from his ground cockpit its
small size and quick movements made hi
Mac very hard to track with conventional
chase aircraft range tracking telemetry
and command uplink made these flights
possible the most dramatic use of
command uplink was the full-scale
transport controlled impact
demonstration our prv called Sid for
short Dryden conducted the SID
experiment in cooperation with the FAA
and NASA Langley to test the
effectiveness of crashworthy advances
including an eddy misting fuel designed
to reduce damage from fire following a
crash researchers instrumented this old
be 720 passenger jet liner to be flown
as a remotely piloted vehicle pilot Fitz
Fulton worked for months in the ground
cockpit and in the plane itself with
range support to prepare the jet liners
remotely controlled systems for its
flight final impact during the crash
test range telemetry worked flawlessly
while best known for carrying out
research on high-performance aircraft
bryden's range has supported a wide
variety of test aircraft such as the
gossamer albatross which was peddled
somewhat like a bicycle the light eagle
another human powered experimental
airplane one for records during its
range supported flight tests this
aircraft was a Massachusetts Institute
of Technology student project the idea
came from Greek mythology accounts of
Daedalus effort to build wings for human
flight the eagle served as a prototype
for the aircraft Daedalus which flew the
74 mile distance from Crete to Santorini
in a record-setting three hours 55
minutes Dryden engineers supported the
eagle flight tests with long-range
optics and a video van to support
development of the space shuttle Dryden
researchers built and tested a series of
wingless aircraft called lifting bodies
the X 24 b was one of these aircraft
they drew their lift entirely from their
body shapes which acted like the wings
of conventional airplanes the X 24 b was
rocket-powered so we could reach speeds
and altitudes similar to those
encountered by the shuttle when it
approaches to land the lifting bodies
depended on range support for energy
management and guidance to the landing
site the uniquely configured x 29 a
forward swept wing is entirely dependent
on the range to conduct its flight tests
this high-performance research aircraft
maneuvers at very high speeds at the
same time it requires constant computer
adjustment and correction to position
its exotic flight control surfaces
the x29 set a whole new baseline for the
range in real-time data processing and
display range engineers answered the x29
program demands by developing the
necessary capabilities in just four
months in the process they created
facsimile zuv cockpit status panels on
control room monitors they established a
real-time satellite link between the
Dryden range control room and the
contractors home base in New York and
they developed the capacity to deliver
more than 4 million processed words per
minute the control room display monitors
and strip chart recorders on both sides
of the continent in real-time the
historic why f12 also was a completely
range dependent test plane this
high-performance vehicle flew so fast
and so high that no other airplane could
stay with it in a matter of moments it
covered so much territory the Dryden had
to maintain an extended range in order
to test it as with the x-15 the EV and
Beatty test sites in Nevada became range
boundaries for YF 12 experiments
officially clocked at two thousand two
miles per hour the YF 12 with its air
breathing engines was the prototype for
hypersonic planes of the future the
National aerospace plane or NASP will be
such a hypersonic plane and much more
this is the next generation air and
spacecraft NASP will take off
horizontally like an ordinary airplane
accelerate to escape velocity leave the
atmosphere and fly in low Earth orbit
it'll re-enter the atmosphere and make a
powered horizontal landing again like an
ordinary airplane currently in the
design phase this joint NASA air force
research craft is targeted to make its
first flight in 1994 NASP will take off
and land at Edwards Air Force Base as
the program progresses the plane will
cover the continental United States in
minutes during flights in the atmosphere
range Mission Control will encompass
every contiguous state when NASP begins
orbital flights range scope will become
world
I'd telemetry will interface with NASA's
tracking and data relay satellite system
NASP test flights may require multiple
fully equipped mobile trailers
positioned at strategic locations range
controllers and researchers will need to
know where the plane is every moment in
terms of latitude longitude and altitude
at NASP speeds this will be a major
accomplishment researchers will need
ground computer processed
instrumentation data during flights this
will place extraordinary demands on
range acquisition and processing getting
ready for next generation test planes is
a major challenge for Range engineers
they're meeting it by developing
next-generation equipment and support
systems a prime example is the automated
flight test management system or a TMS
this is a highly advanced knowledge
based system being developed to assist
researchers plan and conduct flight test
missions and make necessary changes in
real time a flight engineer enters test
parameters and aircraft performance
characteristics and a TMS provides an
ordered set of flight test points a TMS
designers are experimenting with
artificial intelligence to direct flight
control programs they anticipate big
benefits for programs requiring the
ability to record small changes in
aircraft parameters during repeated
maneuvers from its earliest days the
Western aeronautical test range has
played a key role in advancing the
latest concepts in air and spacecraft
the best aeronautical engineers have
used its facilities to maximize their
research Milt Thompson is the chief
engineer at Ames Dryden Thomson was a
test pilot on both the history-making
x-15 and lifting body aircraft he had a
major part in creating the tradition of
excellence here he's among the few
people qualified to give firsthand
perspective on the development of
today's aeronautics and the direction of
tomorrow's research key programs that
kind of defined the range were the x-15
and subsequent to that the YF 12 that
had an extremely long range requiring
tracking communications and data relay
the NASA program will provide the next
challenge for the range and of course
will be an extremely high speed vehicle
potentially going on into orbit and it
will cover an awful lot of distance in
its test program and during say an
acceleration up to orbital speeds and it
will require almost a worldwide
capability worldwide tracking capability
to follow the vehicle in its development
program any other program other than
NASA that involves extremely high speeds
will be candidates also for good
utilization of the high range for
example any scramjet or ram jet
propulsion test programs there again the
speeds will be high and it will require
the support of a range such as what we
currently have these become essential as
I indicated for safety to ensure that we
know where the vehicle is and are able
to guide the vehicle back to a
successful landing the range has been an
essential part of the development of the
high-speed aircraft without the range I
don't see how we could have done this I
you have to have this tracking
capability and the data transmission
capability to really do a development
program on these higher speed vehicles
in my opinion there is just no question
that we have an unsurpassed capability
as far as being able to handle
aeronautical research programs within
this country and very likely within the
world building on its basic capabilities
television downlink including heads-up
display guidance and control uplink
worldwide tracking network ties and
transmission of data to any location the
Western aeronautical test range
undergoes continuous expansion
refinement and improvement at the hands
of its top professional engineers and
support team since the time of the x-15
the range is experienced astounding
transformations and expanded its
capabilities to become the complex and
indispensable network it is today it
will continue to be a vital resource for
testing air and spacecraft of the future
such future research craft from exotic
forms only now being familiar to those
we have not yet imagined will share a
common link they will depend on the
Western aeronautical test range
supporting exploration that knows no
limit
you