Managing the introduction of CAIS to F/A-18E/F Flight Test Operations

摘要

System is required on E3 to support its airframe loads calibration. Considering that the first two aircraft, E1 and E2, would be fitted with a different core instrumentation system (DDAS), would there potentially be an effect upon the validity of an attempted comparison of the same data taken on other F/A-18E/F aircraft? If so, what elements of system design would contribute to that difference, and could suitable modifications be made to either core system to eliminate the difference? That is, what differences exist betwene the two pulse-code modulation (PCM) subsystems used across the F/A-18E/F program, CAIS and DDAS, that could affect final data, and how do we proceed to make that final data independent of those differences? The answer was felt to be in the timing differences between the two system data buses, and the implementation of individual data sampling schemes.