Low Voltage TDR BIT Module Prototype Development

PM Air Warrior is developing the next generation of body mounted electronics for the aviator. Previous development efforts ran into substantial reliability issues with mounted cables due to their tendency to flex and crimp far more than what is seen on an air or ground vehicle. Cable and connector issues were a big contributor towards an unsuccessful conclusion of that program. The Rapid Innovation Fund topic “Wireless Power” is developing a power and data hub through which all body mounted cables will be connected. While digital BIT is implemented, analog wire testing is not part of the current design approach. This project is to develop a modular circuit board which implements a low voltage Time Domain Reflectometer (TDR) capable of identifying and locating cable faults and reporting results back to a processor or Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) as part of system Built in Test (BIT). The prototype module will demonstrate cable test technology for integration at the circuit board level for new electronics equipped with data, power, and antenna cables that are human, aircraft or vehicle mounted. The proposal submitted is based on Psiber Data Systems' (Psiber) substantial  background in developing commercial TDRs and specific background in developing a specialized TDR that was used to collect extensive test data for cable harness testing. The TDR architecture proposed is innovative and patent protected. This technical approach will result in a modular TDR that is very low cost, low power utilization, small size and capable of very accurate measurements.