A1.1 - Telemetry Streams Using Infrared Communication & Spiral Wrap Antenna Across Decoupled Interfaces
- Event
- ETTC 2026 - European Test and Telemetry Conference
2026-06-09 - 2026-06-11
Nuremberg - Chapter
- RF Spectrum I
- Author(s)
- A. Soffer, S. DiCristina, V. Cascella, P. Sajeev, J. H. Choi - U.S. Futures and Concepts Command - Combat Capabilities Development Command Armaments Center, Picatinny Arsenal (USA), D. O’Rear - Aviation and Missile Center, Redstone Arsenal (USA)
- Pages
- 5 - 14
- DOI
- 10.5162/ettc2026/A1.1
- Price
- free
Abstract
The acquisition of in-flight telemetry is critical for the performance characterization of precisionguided munitions. However, custom antenna development for projectiles with non-standard diameters is often cost-prohibitive and time-intensive. This paper presents a methodology for adapting a flight-proven Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) conformal antenna into a spiral-wrap configuration for a reduced-diameter projectile. The research details the mechanical integration process and validates radio frequency performance through anechoic chamber testing and dynamic link analysis. The link analysis demonstrated that the expected signal-to-noise ratio remains above the 10 -6 bit error rate threshold throughout the entire flight trajectory. Operational survivability and continuous data transmission were successfully validated through a series of six high-G livefire tests, achieving a 10⁰% telemetry success rate with zero dropped frames. Results indicate that the spiral-wrap integration provides a robust, cost-effective solution for rapidly instrumenting nonstandard munitions while maintaining highly reliable telemetry performance in extreme launch environments.