Avionics wind tunnel laboratory interface development

An innovative concept for in-house laboratory research, test and evaluation is being developed within the Avionics Directorate of Wright Laboratory. This concept involves placing advanced avionics hardware and software technologies into realistic testing environments analogous to placing test structures in a wind tunnel environment; hence, the title Avionics Wind Tunnel. These environments are generated, controlled and coordinated through pilot-in-the-loop interactions with a high level engagement model called SUPPRESSOR. SUPPRESSOR simulates a combat environment complete with reactive threats and friendly forces providing communications, jamming, radar, and counter-measures events. The event data and platform movements are used by distributed simulators placed around a real-time simulation network which produces a realistic environment to evaluate avionics technologies. The goal of this concept is to provide an inter-lab capability to perform research, test and evaluation on advanced integrated avionics technologies related to data fusion, integrated communication, navigation, identification (CNI), integrated electronic combat (EC), secure communications, and integrated avionics architectures. Engineers in the Avionics Directorate have been developing real-time interfaces to support joint CNI/EC demonstrations and experiments using the Integrated Test Bed (ITB), Integrated Electromagnetic System Simulator (IESS), Communications System Evaluation Laboratory (CSEL) and Integrated Defensive Avionics Laboratory (IDAL). This paper defines the Avionics Wind Tunnel concept, examines its benefits, and describes the current capabilities and future potential of this development