“There are hundreds of cables on board the B-2A, and being able to test the critical ones quickly is essential to aircraft mission success,” said Wes Wietelman, B-2A avionics program manager for the Air Force. “Agilent's TACTS system does that, while also increasing our productivity.”

The TACTS system measures the amplitude and phase characteristics of cables in aircraft communications and radar. TACTs will enable the Air Force to shorten test time by a factor of five and reduce uncertainty by a factor of 10, bringing about faster, more reliable measurements. The speed and accuracy facilitate basic go/no-go status checking and enable performance tracking over time.

TACTS comprises Agilent’s commercially available N5230A PNA-L series microwave network analyzer, an ECal electronic calibration module, mounted internally in the remote measurement unit, an RF interface and controller, and system software. The system replaces four large transit equipment cases with a single unit, simplifying cable characterization whether or not direct access is readily available to all the cable segments that run through numerous bulkhead connectors of an aircraft.

Whether used on or off the aircraft, the system enables aircraft maintainers to benchmark test data, providing a means for assessing cable integrity over the aircraft’s lifetime, which is typically 30 years.

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