FT-PDA: Flight Test Personal Digital Assistant

RMSI proposes to build FT-PDA---a personal digital assistant (PDA) for flight test data collection, display, analysis and report test generation in real time. Additionally, FT-PDA will provide maneuver quality assessment and make recommendations in real-time to fly more efficient test profiles including suggestions on re-flying, reordering, or modifying maneuvers. The FT-PDA system accommodates hardware that presses the limits of low resolution, sampling rate, and variable installations. Sensors may be low dynamic range, mounted temporarily, unaligned to aircraft axes, or even reside in a pilot's clothing. The accommodation of such sensor systems is mitigated with intelligent software, capable of learning, adapting to new environments, and performing dynamic calibrations. The packaging needs is inexpensive and modular enough for individual pilot or flight test engineer issue, hand carried to varied aircraft for sorties. FT-PDA also includes a modular design of both hardware and software components that allow easy upgrade as newer sensors, computer hardware, and software tools and techniques become available. The cockpit display shows data in formats ranging from raw data (strip charts) all the way to reduced, calibrated, and normalized graphs typically seen in final test reports. The FT-PDA software system is based on open source software and commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware.