RCC/FTS
The
RCC/FTS group consists of primary and secondary RCC/FTS systems, each with equipment
necessary to generate and transmit test and command tones to a cruise missile or other
vehicle via independent signal paths. It contains a system select/test set, two RCC/FTS
control panels, a transmitter/system power assembly, a power filter assembly, two power
amplifiers with power supplies, and three antennas. This group falls under the Telemetry
Processing & Display Group (TP&G) which is covered in the following.
Primary RCC/FTS System
The primary RCC/FTS uses a crossed dipole antenna mounted
on the telemetry dish and provides an effective radiated power of +60.5 dBm over an area +40
degrees in azimuth and +15 degrees to -55 degrees in elevation about the telemetry dish
boresight. The polarization can be set for either left- or right-hand circular.
Secondary
RCC/FTS System
The secondary RCC/FTS uses two fixed cup-turnstile
antennas (one right-looking and one left-looking) mounted inside the nose radome,
providing an effective radiated power of +60.5 dBm over an area from 20 to 90 degrees to
either the left or right of aircraft heading and +15 to -65 degrees from horizontal. The
polarization can be set for either left- or right-hand circular.
System Select
Test Set (SSTS)
The SSTS is the control center of the RCC/FTS group. It
contains a system select panel for selecting system operational modes, a test set
(including IRIG tone generators) for performing system tests, and system status
indicators.
RCC/FTS Control Panels
The operator's console is designed to receive two control
panels which generate control signals (normally IRIG tones) which are transmitted via the
transmitter system power assembly (TSPA). The panels measure 7.5 inches high X 5.25 inches
wide, and can be customer supplied or built to customer specifications.
UHF Relay
On ARIA modified for cruise missile support there is the
capability to use the ARC-164 flight crew radios for automatic line-of-sight UHF relay
between two or more external sites which cannot communicate with each other because of
terrain or range. The ARC-164 radios used have been modified for improved sensitivity and
proper squelch threshold for auto relay. Two frequencies are used for the relay, but a
given party to the relay will transmit and receive on only one frequency. ARIA crewmembers
can access the relay and transmit simultaneously on both frequencies.
L-Band Relay
On ARIA modified for cruise missile support, an L-band
data dump capability has been installed. Assemblies have been built, allowing all of the
modified aircraft to be configured simultaneously. Each assembly houses three L-band
transmitters. The frequencies of these transmitters are fixed at one of two possible
frequency sets. One set is 1,462.5, 1,487.5, and 1,523.5 MHz; the other set is 1,452.5,
1,487.5, and 1,523.5 MHz. The assembly also houses a tri-coupler allowing all three links
to be coupled to the same antenna.
Cruise Missile Mission
Control Aircraft (CMMCA) Phase 0
The Cruise Missile Mission Control Aircraft (CMMCA) Phase
0 system provides the capability to monitor and control a cruise missile throughout its
flight. It contains the equipment necessary to process the incoming telemetry data and
present it to the operator for analysis (telemetry processing and display group), and a
remote command & control / flight termination system (RCC/FTS) group for generating
and transmitting command signals to the cruise missile.
Telemetry Processing and Display
(TP&D) Group
The TP&D group consists of a telemetry data processor
(TDP), a TDP remote display panel, three plasma display units, and three keyboard
controls. The TP&D group is interfaced with the ARIA PMEE via the data separation
subsystem.
Telemetry Data
Processor (TDP)
The TDP is a single chassis containing three independent
CPUs, each with its own power supply and interfaces. It utilizes parallel telemetry data
from the decommutators to provide engineering unit displays to the operator, as well as
sending processed data to the modular interface unit (MIU) for calculation and display of
missile-to-aircraft range. The TDP is programmed via erasable, programmable, read-only
memory chips (EPROMs), and each CPU can be programmed for custom displays according to
each mission requirement.
TDP Interfaces
- PCM Decommutator Interface. The TDP receives PCM data from
two PCM decommutators. The PCM data input to the TDP can be configured either as two
16-bit parallel inputs (one from each decom) or as one 32-bit parallel input from a single
decom.
- Modular Interface Unit (MIU) Parallel Interface. The MIU
receives serial data from the INS, converts the data to 16-bit parallel, and sends
selected data to the TDP.
- MIU Serial Interface. The MIU serial interface is normally
used to transmit processed range data from the TDP to the MIU, which in turn routes data
to the thermal printer, the navigator's range display, and the data separation subsystem.
- Modem Interface. The modem interface is a serial
synchronous link using an external clock for transmitting and receiving. The I/O lines
interface the TDP to the data separation subsystem patch panel.
- Plasma Display Terminal Interface. Data is transferred
serially from the TDP to the plasma terminal at 19.2 K baud.
- Keyboard Interface. The keyboards are interfaced directly
to the CPU via a 300-baud serial interface.
- Remote TDP Display Interface. The remote TDP interface
provides +4 Vdc to the remote display at the operator's console for LED status indicator
power, then provides a closure to ground to provide the appropriate indications.
Plasma Displays
Three plasma displays are located at the operator's
console, each being driven by individual CPUs within the TDP.
Keyboards
Three keyboards are located in the tabletop at the
operator stations to enable the operator to control the TDP to select data stream input
and type of screen display, as well as initialize program and enter baseline data points.
Missile
Position Display System
The data separation subsystems have been modified with a
cable interfacing the modular interface unit (MIU) and the ARIA INS. This modification is
necessary to process data for the cruise missile position display system which computes
the missile position, the ARIA position, the range to the missile, and the ARIA
groundspeed. The system continuously displays range at the data separation subsystem and
navigator's stations, relative antenna azimuth at the navigator's station, and ARIA INS
groundspeed at the pilot's station. Additional parameters may be printed on demand at the
data separation subsystem. The cruise missile position display system provides ARIA crews
with real-time information needed to properly position the aircraft for telemetry
reception and remote command and control transmissions.
The system computes range and look angles using ARIA
position data from the ARIA INS and missile position data from the cruise missile
telemetry data. This system is not an aid to acquisition since telemetry data must be
received before any computations are made. The TDP locates the missile position data
within the parallel PCM bit stream and converts it to floating point data. Meanwhile,
serial ARIA INS data is transmitted to the MIU where ARIA latitude, longitude, and
groundspeed are stripped out. The latitude and longitude are sent in 8-bit parallel words
(two per parameter) to the TDP. The TDP converts the ARIA position data to floating point
and, using ARIA position data and missile position data, computes azimuth, elevation and
range. It then transmits the data in serial ASCII format to the printer through the MIU.
The MIU extracts the range from the serial data and displays it on an LED display. The MIU
also sends the range to the navigator's range display and the groundspeed to the pilot's
groundspeed display. Synchronization signals from the antenna control assembly drive the
navigator's azimuth display. |
