Low-power Wireless Local AreaNetworks for Flight Test

Significant cost and schedule risk are incurred when novel flight-test hardware is integrated into airborne test platforms. Much of the cost is attributed to the labor involved in the installation of signal interconnect wiring between the flight-test hardware and the operator interface. Project cost and schedule may be reduced by the substitution of wireless communication paths in lieu of hardwired connections. Recent advances in commercially available local-area-networking (LAN) hardware have enabled the deletion of hardwire data paths aboard aircraft, and have enabled new flight-test methodologies involving multi-aircraft formations as well as novel telemetry implementations. This paper represents a survey of work completed by the United States Air Force Test Pilot School and the Air Force Institute of Technology, and introduces several exciting LAN-based flight-test programs scheduled for the near-term.