Flight Test Video Applications

Delta Digital Video builds rugged video encoders and decoders, video distribution systems, and scan converters purpose-built for flight test instrumentation. Our compression and transport streams are MISB/STANAG compliant and built to interoperate with the IRIG 106 Chapter 10 recording and Chapter 7 downlink systems that define modern flight test architecture.

Flight test equipment lives where studio video equipment cannot. Temperature extremes, vibration, shock, EMI, and tight SWaP envelopes are not edge cases; they are the daily operating conditions. Delta’s rugged video encoders are engineered specifically for harsh airborne environments, in compact form factors designed to fit inside instrumentation racks, weapons-bay enclosures, pods, and externally mounted housings without forcing the integrator to redesign around the encoder.

Modern flight test instrumentation runs on IRIG 106. Delta’s rugged video encoders output standards-compliant MPEG-2 transport stream and PCM, with IRIG-B/1PPS time input and KLV metadata, so the compressed video feeds the onboard Chapter 10 recording and Chapter 7 downlink chain rather than running as a parallel infrastructure problem. That keeps the video correlated with the rest of the test record (time, position, parametric data, and bus traffic) through acquisition, recording, and replay.

Delta video encoders deliver H.264 and H.265 compression, with optional JPEG-XS on select models, and standards-compliant transport streams designed to be decompressed and displayed inside hardware- or software-based telemetry display systems. H.264 remains the practical baseline where mature interoperability matters most. H.265 becomes the stronger engineering path when bandwidth is the limiting factor: higher resolutions, more channels, or tighter telemetry links. JPEG-XS, available as an option on select Delta encoders, fits a different class of problem where ultra-low-latency, visually lossless transport matters more than maximum bitrate reduction.

Where programs require KLV metadata multiplexed into the video stream, including time, position, sensor pointing, and mission context, Delta encoders are MISB/STANAG compliant and engineered to preserve metadata through compression, transport, and downstream display. This helps ensure the video remains synchronized, actionable, and operationally useful.

Flight test does not end at the airframe. Ground-based video distribution at the range matters just as much as the onboard encoder. Delta’s standalone and multi-channel video distribution systems are built around the same processing architectures as our airborne products, delivering high-quality, low-latency video for single-channel and multi-channel range video distribution in tough industrial packaging; suitable for control rooms, range operations centers, and remote viewing stations.