The Evolution of Recorders for Test and Evaluation
Abstract
Recorders have always played a key role in the world of test and evaluation (T&E). In many T&E applications, data are passed in real time from a platform to a central control facility. Because data links can experience outages, the data are stored onboard the platform to ensure data integrity. In many cases, the data link is not capable of passing all the data. When this occurs, only time-critical data are transmitted, while all the data are stored for post-mission retrieval and processing. Onboard recorders have evolved over time to meet the ever-increasing requirements of smaller volumes, operating in harsher environments, and storing larger quantities of data. In the early 1990s, small-volume recorders were made using solid-state, non-removable volatile memory with data capacity on the order of 2 Megabytes. In the late 1990s, the storage media became commonly available in 220-Mbyte removable Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) cards. These recording devices required no battery and were compatible with standard laptop PCMCIA ports. The test community is again turning to commercial technology to keep pace with T&E's high-capacity demands. All of these technologies -- Smart Media, Universal Serial Bus (USB) drives, and Compact Flash (CF) -- offer a significant advantage over PCMCIA cards, but CF has additional advantages, including high density, laptop compatibility, and an association-controlled form factor. Current state-of-the-art CF storage is 4 Gigabytes (Gbytes), but 10-Gbyte cards are just around the corner. Although these devices have remarkable performance, T&E data storage requirements continue to increase. To meet these needs, TRMC is investing in a new technology, referred to as the holographic memory cube (HMC). Holographic data storage uses lasers to store information as two-dimensional pages of electronic patterns within the volume of special optical materials, such as a photorefractive crystal.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 2006
- Accession Number
- ADA519823
Entities
People
- G. D. Hinton
Organizations
- Office of the Secretary of Defense