CDAU 2016

The CDAU-2016 is TTC's flagship PCM Encoder product with integral signal conditioning capability. The unit has been designed for applications that require high performance, rugged construction, flexibility, low cost, and long service life. The unit has features that make it extremely flexible, which is especially important for the rapidly changing environment typically encountered during flight test development. The unit has plug-in I/O cards to handle any conceivable sensor/transducer mix, plug-in overhead cards to process, store and transmit encoded data to suit exact mission requirements, and a Windows 95/98/NT/2000-based software application to allow the user to program the system in the field.

The CDAU is available in three (3) basic sizes including the CDAU-2016 (16 I/O slots), the CDAU-2012 (12 I/O slots), and the CDAU-2010 (10 I/O slots). TTC has proposed two (2) CDAU-2016's operating in a master/slave configuration (shown in Figure 1). This configuration will meet the channel requirements of the specification and will provide an additional three (3) spare I/O slots to support future expansion.

The CDAU-2016 can be configured to operate as a Stand Alone unit, or as part of a distributed data acquisition system. When configured as a distributed system, the units rely on a standardized inter-unit communication bus, called the Common Airborne Instrumentation System, or "CAIS". The system designer can configure systems with channel capacities in the 1,000's. Individual Remote Units can be installed away from the Master Unit in the areas of sensor/transducer installation, thereby reducing the cost and weight associated with extra cabling.

The CDAU-2016 architecture is totally open, having been designed to easily integrate a variety of standard aircraft subsystems and interfaces into a single data acquisition system.   Interfaces are available to support most sensors and transducers, most aircraft tappings including 1553, ARINC-429, and RS-232, Time Code sources, Airborne Recording instrumentation, cockpit instrumentation, and even interconnections with heritage PCM encoder systems.

The proposed CDAU-2016 master unit has also been configured for solid-state recording of data. It includes a model SSR-100 Solid State Recorder card in the chassis.