Spiral Technology - Telemetry Attributes Transfer Standard (TMATS)
WHAT IS TMATS?
With the publication of IRIG 106-93,
the Inter-Range Instrumentation Group (IRIG) introduced the Telemetry
Attributes Transfer Standard (TMATS) presented as Chapter 9. This
long-needed standard was designed to provide a common thread through
which test programs could move from one test range to another without
major re-work in the setup environment.
As stated in IRIG 106, the purpose of TMATS is "... to
provide a common format for the transfer of information between the
user and a test range or between ranges. This format will minimize
the 'station unique' activities that are necessary to support any
test item. In addition, it is intended to relieve the labor
intensive process currently required to reformat the information by
providing the information on computer compatible media, thus reducing
errors and requiring less preparation time for test support."
The attributes defined by TMATS are those parameters required by the
receiving/processing system to acquire, process and display the
telemetry data received from the test item or source. Each attribute
is represented by a unique code name and associated data.
These attributes are divided into the following groupings:
Attribute Group
Description
General Information
Defines various top-level program definitions and defines each data source used within this TMATS file.
Transmission Attributes
Describes each RF link that was defined in the General Information Section.
Tape Source Attributes
Describes each tape data source defined in the General Information Section.
Multiplex/Modulation Attributes
Defines each FM/FM, FM/PM, or PM/PM multiplex characteristic. For analog measurement, this section defines a link to the Data Conversion Section.
PCM Format Attributes
Defines the format and various characteristics of a PCM data stream. This definition includes subframe and embedded format descriptions.
PCM Measurement Attributes
Defines and describes each PCM measurand to the system. This definition includes the measurand location(s) and measurement names.
1553 Bus Data Attributes
Defines each 1553 data stream by defining the various messages and their locations.
PAM Attributes
Definition of the Pulse-Amplitude Modulation system. This includes PAM format characteristics and measurement attributes.
Data Conversion Attributes
Defines the various conversions that are to be applied to defined measurements.
Airborne Hardware Attributes
This section was recently added to the TMATS
specification (5 May 1995). It defines the specific configuration of
airborne instrumentation hardware in use on the vehicle under
test.
The TMATS file may contain multiple definitions for various
configurations. A TMATS file is structured similarly to a
hierarchical database allowing a user to extract the necessary
information for a particular setup.
The Figure below represents the hierarchical structure of a TMATS file.
The primary considerations for using TMATS are represented in the
following:
A single TMATS file contains the entire description of a test
system from onboard transducers through data converted to engineering
units as one "database" of definitions and descriptions. By
incorporating TMATS, projects can be easily transported between
different hardware and software platforms and test ranges.
TMATS, like any other "setup file", can be difficult to
read/maintain/edit without additional tools. Although TMATS is an
ASCII file, it can be quite large with even the most modest PCM
definitions. In order to create or edit a TMATS file manually the
user must be quite familiar with the TMATS "keywords" and
syntax. This is a job not well suited for the everyday word
processor, since the simplest error could result in an invalid TMATS
definition.
Most vendors are now offering TMATS support for their ground
systems either directly or through a third party (Spiral). In
addition, the commercial off the shelf (COTS) developers are offering
tools to maintain TMATS structured data files. Windows based COTS
software tools are available to allow users to create, edit and
maintain TMATS files in a simple, easy to use environment (Figure 2).
With these COTS applications the TMATS structure becomes invisible to
the user and is replaced with a friendlier graphical format, allowing
the user to visualize the various data formats in the TMATS
file.
Benefits of using TMATS Technology
Ranges-As a range systems user, TMATS offers you the
ability to support new programs coming from other ranges or test
facilities with a minimal amount of tedious setup work by importing
the majority of the mission definition in the TMATS format.
Test Programs-As a Program Manager you can move your
testing from internal to external test facilities with minimal cost
using TMATS.
Telemetry System Upgrades-When competitively procuring a
new Ground System, the migration from the existing system is made
much simpler with TMATS as the transition mechanism.
Operations-Used as the primary interface between
telemetry instrumentation and the ground station, TMATS can simplify
the number of setup environments your operators need to learn.
User's with Multiple Vendors-For facilities with multiple
vendor products in use, TMATS provides a common setup environment
which, when coupled with translators to convert from TMATS to unique
vendor formats, will, again, simplify the number of setup
environments you need to learn.
Shrinking Budgets-With budgets shrinking, TMATS helps to
reduce Test Program Life Cycle Costs.
All versions of the IRIG 106 documents are available for download on our downloads page.
With the publication of IRIG 106-93,
the Inter-Range Instrumentation Group (IRIG) introduced the Telemetry
Attributes Transfer Standard (TMATS) presented as Chapter 9. This
long-needed standard was designed to provide a common thread through
which test programs could move from one test range to another without
major re-work in the setup environment.
