Volume 10, Number 1 • January/February 2002 • Aerospace Technology Development

Dryden Team Increases Digital Video Capabilities

Dryden’s Western Aeronautical Test Range (WATR) technician operations branch recently deployed a continuous 360-degree tracking pedestal featuring a high-definition (HD) digital camera and an infrared analog camera for use in the tracking of highly maneuverable experimental aircraft and space shuttles at distances of up to 100 miles, day or night. This capability is known as the HD Long-Range Optics (LRO) tower.

“This technology is very new—in fact, this capability had never been invented before. It’s a little more experimental than the work we usually do in visual documentation,” commented Tony Trent, WATR video systems lead, as he explained how the team took commercial off-the-shelf products and modified, integrated and tested them for use at Dryden.

A Focal Technologies fiber-optic rotary joint (FORJ)—originally produced in Nova Scotia for use in submersible, remotely operated vehicles featuring rotating manipulator arms—was modified to pass HD video and camera-control signals through two fiber-optic conductors, and to overcome the bandwidth limitation historically associated with conventional copper slip rings, Trent noted.

“Slip rings facilitate the rotation of the pedestal, but the HD system is digital, and, at 1.5 gigabits per second, it’s too much for a rotating slip ring,” explained Linda Peters, contractor work group lead for LRO.

The modification of the FORJ included the fabrication of a yoke assembly to enable rotation of the upper half of the FORJ with the rotation of the upper half of a pedestal (itself modified to accept the FORJ), Trent said. “The company who built the fiber joint was really amazed and impressed with our application,” Trent added. “It had never been used the way we’re using it.”

Knight Engineering of Bloomington, California developed a design to produce a pedestal that met WATR’s requirements. It took the company only three weeks to design tools and equipment to make the pedestal work.

In addition, the LRO platform was also a commercial off-the-shelf product.

“The HD camera system is the Panasonic AQ-720P prototype,” said Peters. “This is a progressive HD camera that’s being used in a unique application. In fact, it’s the only HD camera mounted on a tracking pedestal in the world.”

The HD camera was mated to a Canon zoom lens, and the entire apparatus was mounted to the tracking pedestal. The data from the camera is transmitted with routers to recorders and displays.

The new HD LRO tower is a popular enhancement of WATR’s video support of range activity and space shuttle landings because it provides HD video with unobstructed views and digital data that can be used and interfaced with computers easily.

“All of these cameras are remotely controlled,” noted Peters. “Anyone who uses the range has this capability available to them and are encouraged to schedule use of these cameras for their projects.”

In the few months that the new HD LRO tower has been in place, it has supported NASA, Dryden and Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC) programs such as three space shuttle landings, the X-38, the X-40, the X-43A, the F/A-18 Autonomous Formation Flight (AFF), the X-32 and X-35 and the F-22 Raptor—and it will be supporting the X-45 in the near future. Support of AFFTC programs is provided as part of the AFFTC/NASA Alliance.

“We tracked Atlantis’s February 20 landing with the LRO,” elaborated Peters. “Kennedy Space Center covers space shuttle launches with a camera that rotates 90 degrees; our LRO’s capability is a continuous 360-degree view.”

“We then took that footage and converted it to standard video for the networks, but it was still better quality footage than they would have otherwise received,” added Trent. Q

For more information, contact Tony Trent, Video Systems Lead, 661/276-2570. Please mention you read about it in Innovation.

NASA Official: Jonathan Root • Web Design: Printing & Design Office, NASA Headquarters • Credits