2026 Test Instrumentation Workshop

In this high-level half-day course we will review the fundamentals of T&E which are covered in the CTEP Foundational exam. The course includes an introduction with a short history of T&E. The class then focuses on the CTEP Body of Knowledge (BOK) including the four subject domains plus some specialized types of testing:

– Test and Evaluation Planning: Requirements Analysis, T&E strategy, the TEMP, Evaluation approach, Test Planning, T&E Cost Management, Contracting for T&E, Organizational planning, Risk identification and management
– Test and Evaluation Design: Test Adequacy and Scientific Test and Analysis Techniques (STAT)
– Test and Evaluation Execution: Test Control Management, Data Management, and Test Safety / Certification
– Test Data Analysis, Evaluation and Reporting: Data Verification and Validation, Validation of Test Results, Evaluation, Reporting, Cyber Resilience / Cybersecurity Analysis, Model Validation, and Data Analytics.

Who Should Attend
Individuals in the T&E community (government and industry, ITEA members and non-members) who want to demonstrate their knowledge, skills and abilities in T&E and be recognized by the International Test and Evaluation Association for their professional growth. Note that the Certified Test & Evaluation Professional (CTEP) credential is becoming a “preferred” requirement in many test engineer job postings.

Instructor: Charles “Chas” McKee, Program Manager, TSA Professional Engineering and Logistics Support Services (PELSS), Joint Research and Development (JRAD) LLC
Mr. McKee has 35 years of experience providing Program Management, Test and Evaluation, Systems Engineering, Human Factors Engineering, Strategic Planning, Capture Planning, and Proposal Development support to companies supporting the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Federal Aviation Administration, and the Department of Transportation. Served as President of the Board of Directors, International Test and Evaluation Association (ITEA), 2013 – 2015.

Mr. McKee is a subject matter expert in Test and Evaluation (T&E) policy and procedure, the Department of Defense (DOD) Acquisition Process and DOD 5000 Series, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Acquisition Process and Acquisition Directive AD-102. Mr. McKee has 35 years of experience providing Program Management, Test and Evaluation, Systems Engineering, and Human Factors Engineering support to companies supporting the Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Mr. McKee is currently the Program Manager for the DHS Transportation Security Agency (TSA) Professional Engineering Logistics Support Services (PELSS) contract. Provides Acquisition Management, Systems Engineering, Operational Test & Evaluation (OT&E), Human Factors Engineering (HFE), test planning, design of experiments, data collection, data analysis, statistics, and evaluation reporting on Transportation Security Equipment (TSE) systems deployed to Airports and Intermodal facilities. Mr. Mckee led the design and development of a Common Graphical User Interface (CGUI) for new Checkpoint Computed Tomography systems. The CGUI design maximized the Probability of Detection, minimized probability of false alarms, while improving throughput time for screening accessible property by Transportation Security Officers (TSO’s) at airports. Mr. McKee leads GST’s Engineering support for the TSA Innovation Task Force (ITF). Providing systems engineering support to TSA’s new Open Architecture (OA) Tiger Team the TSA Administrators top priority.

Over my career I have led the program management and technical support to multiple clients such as the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E), Joint Test & Evaluation (JT&E), Test Resource Management Center (TRMC), OSD AT&L Systems Engineering, Defense Modeling and Simulation Office (DMSO), Army Test & Evaluation Command (ATEC) / Army Evaluation Center (AEC), Air Force Test and Evaluation (AF/TE), US Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) Joint Forces Integration and Interoperability Test (JFIIT), Air Combat Command (ACC) Red Flag Exercise Support, Army Program Executive Office (PEO) Simulation Training Instrumentation (STRI) STARSHIP program and DISA’s Joint Interoperability Test Center (JITC) Test and Evaluation (T&E) Mission Support Services. Provided Subject Matter Expertise to all clients on program management, test and evaluation, statistical analysis, modeling and simulation, training, human factors engineering / human systems integration, and design of experiments.

Mr. McKee currently teaches the ITEA Certified Test and Evaluation Professional (CTEP) Fundamentals of Test and Evaluation tutorial at all ITEA Workshops and Symposium and teaches a tailored version of this class to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and to some DoD Agencies such as the Navy Integrated Warfare Center (NIWC).

The presentation begins onboard the vehicle under test discussing sensors, signal conditioning, commutation, modulation and transmission. It continues on the ground with antennas, receivers, data distribution, decommutation, processing and display. The tutorial includes additional concepts like forward error correction, telemetry over IP, IRIG 106 Chapter 10 and 11 recording and distribution formats as well as IRIG 106 Chapter 7 packet data over PCM.

Instructor: Dr. Rob G. Holland, General Manager, Delta Telemetry Systems

Dr. Holland leads the Delta Telemetry Systems (DTS) business unit at Delta Information Systems (DIS).    He has nearly 40 years of engineering experience.  Formerly Dr. Holland led the L3Harris’ Telemetry & RF (T&RF)  business unit.  Prior to T&RF he led the Integrated Communications engineering organization as Chief Engineer at L-3 Communications.  Dr. Holland was involved in the US Space Station program from its inception, he also contributed to the US Space Shuttle Program, as well as several Type 1 secure voice/data wireline and wireless equipment programs.

5G NR is an international wireless cellular system specification, developed by the 3GPP organization members. Currently its sixth release (Rel-20) is being standardized, while products compliant with the five earlier releases are being widely deployed in the United States and the rest of the world. 5G is expected to increasingly dominate the worldwide cellular communication market due to its flexibility, wide adoption, and an ever-expanding supplier global ecosystem. This tutorial is intended to familiarize the Testing Range professionals with a) the key features of the 5G standards specifications – the basic vision, network architecture, and air-interface details down to the physical and MAC-layer characteristics, and b) the aspects that are important to the Test & Evaluation engineers that relate to aeronautical mobile telemetry: differences with currently used telemetry systems, new capabilities offered via the 5G system on air-interface performance and architectural flexibility. The tutorial covers the key design choices of 5G NR and a description of key feature definitions including MIMO techniques, Non-Terrestrial Networks, Ultra Reliable Low Latency, Integrated Access and Backhaul, Handover mechanisms, and the disaggregated Radio Access Network architecture.

Instructor: Dr. Achilles Kogiantis, Head of Engineering, Altio Labs

Dr. Kogiantis is the Head of Engineering at Altio Labs, leading work on cellular telemetry, positioning, and sensing, with a focus on adapting commercial 3GPP standards for DoD applications.

With nearly 30 years of experience in advanced R&D, he spent 12 years at Lucent Bell Labs, where he introduced multi-antenna and MIMO innovations to 3G/4G standards and high-speed packet data interfaces. He followed this with a 14-year tenure at Peraton Labs, leading multiple 5G prototype projects and contributing to LTE and 5G 3GPP standards for Priority Services and radio protocol performance. Dr. Kogiantis holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from University of Virginia (1994), and a Diploma in Electrical Engineering from University of Patras, Greece (1990).

Data, Acquisition, Telemetry, Instrumentation System Block Diagram, Standards, Data Requirements, Transducers Specifications, Video, Avionics Busses (e.g. 1553, ARINC-429, Ethernet etc.), Using Requirements to Configure an Analog Data Channel, Creating a PCM Map to Obtain a Sample Rate, Telemetry Bandwidth, Record Time, GPS, Audio, Telemetry Attributes Transfer Standard (TMATS), and Measurement Uncertainty – Interpreting the Results, current and future Beyond Line Of Sight (BLOS) concepts of operation. This is great introduction for new hires or a refresher for current employees.

Instructor: David Hodack, Aircraft Instrumentation Division Chief Engineer
NAWCAD Patuxent River, MD

The student will see how ground stations are set up to operate in real time, including the many basic parameters required to successfully receiver telemetry data at the ground station. Ideas related to Mission Planning and techniques for insuring System Maintenance and Readiness will be offered.

Who Should Take this Course?
Entry Level Engineers, Technicians, and Technical Management who desire to learn (or brush up on) a wide array of fundamental topics related to Aeronautical Mobile Telemetry (AMT), with a particular emphasis on Ground Receiving and Data Processing Stations.

Course Content
The topics listed below will be discussed during the presentation of the course materials:
Briefly explain how telemetry data is formatted and transmitted from the airborne side
Explain basic components and functionality of each in a typical Ground Telemetry System
Track Antenna and Principles of RF Propagation
Multicoupler
Receiver Tuner/Downconverter
Diversity Combiner
Demodulator
Bit Synchronizer
Frame Synchronization
Decommutation
Data Recording and Playback
Telemetry Transport over Ethernet Protocols (TMoIP)
Real Time Data Processing and Display of Telemetered Parameters
Factors Related to Mission Planning
Impediments to Receiving “Good Telemetry”
Periodic System Readiness Checks and Calibrations

Instructor: Mark McWhorter, V.P. of Sales & Marketing, Lumistar Inc.

Mark McWhorter is a Telemetry Industry veteran, who has been deeply involved in the design, development, production and marketing of microwave components and digital communication systems for over 40 years. He currently holds the position of Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Lumistar, Inc., a well-known supplier of telemetry components and systems. This position allows him to see hundreds of aeronautical telemetry applications on a yearly basis. Mark is a Board Member with the I.F.T. (Internation Foundation for Telemetering) and volunteers his support for the yearly “ITC Conference”. He holds a BSEE Degree from the University of South Florida and has authored several papers on microwave components and communication system applications. Mr. McWhorter previously held the position of Engineering Manager for several small microwave component manufacturing companies and has designed hundreds of components such as directional couplers, mixers, LNAs, and filters. Prior to Lumistar, he held the position of Technical Director at Honeywell Space Systems, Clearwater, FL where he led a talented team of System Engineers in the development/deployment and operations of ground based mobile Range Safety and Telemetry Systems deployed for MDA target launches in Kodiak, Alaska. He has written many articles over the years for publications like RF Design Magazine, Microwave Journal, Microwaves and RF, and Aerospace International Test. Mark is an avid musician since childhood and plays locally in two rock bands.

The Joint Mission Environment Test Capability (JMETC) provides the persistent and robust infrastructure (networks, integration software, tools, knowledge management) and technical expertise to integrate Test Instrumentation for test and evaluation in a Joint systems-of-systems and Cyber environment.  JMETC is a distributed LVC testing capability developed to support the acquisition community during program development, developmental testing, operational testing, interoperability certification, and to demonstrate Net-Ready Key Performance Parameters requirements in a customer-specific Joint Mission Environment.  JMETC provides readily-available connectivity to the Services’ distributed test capabilities and simulations, as well as industry test resources.  Incorporation of distributed testing and leveraging of JMETC-provided capabilities by programs and users has repeatedly proven to reduce risk, cost, and schedule.  Built as a core, reusable, and easily reconfigurable infrastructure on the capabilities of the Test and Training Enabling Architecture (TENA), JMETC is also aligned with the Joint National Training Capability (JNTC) integration solutions to foster test, training, and experimental collaboration.

Come hear the latest on how JMETC is continually growing to improve RDT&E infrastructure. We will discuss many new JMETC topics to include: TRMC DevSecOps services, JMETC Networks to include the latest in edge connection,  Universal Command and Control, CHEETAS and the environment the TRMC is building for Digital Engineering.

This tutorial will inform the audience as to the current impact of JMETC on the Test, Training, and Evaluation community; as well as its expected future benefits to the Range community and to the Warfighter.

This course will focus on presenting information to establish a basic understanding of IRIG 106, Chapter 7, Packet Telemetry Downlink Standard.   It will focus on the implementation of airborne and ground system hardware, what to consider for use cases using Chapter 7 Packet TM and methods to handle Chapter 7, Packet Telemetry data on the ground.  The class will address how to multiplex packet telemetry into your existing IRIG Chapter 4 legacy PCM stream.  Other subjects such as latency, compatibility with Test Range Instrumentation System compatibility such as RF Transmission, data recording, RF Receiving, Ground Reproduction, and Chapter 10 data processing methods.

Instructor: Dan Green, Senior Field Application Engineer, Safran Defense & Space, Inc.

Dan Green graduated from New Mexico State University with a degree in Electrical Engineering. He began his career in 1995 as a Software Engineer at Lockheed Martin, where he worked for over 12 years. There, he developed technical expertise that led him to join Zodiac Data Systems as an Engineering Manager, and later as a Senior Field Application Engineer at Safran Data Systems. His current role is Subject Matter Expert – On-Board & Testing at Safran Defense & Space, Inc. (formerly SDS). Dan leads a team of Field Application Engineers across the U.S. and provides technical guidance to develop in-house solutions and new capabilities.

Dan has been in the flight test and telemetry industry for 30 years and has supported major U.S. military and commercial programs. He is actively involved in industry committees, including the Range Commanders Council (RCC) Telemetry Group and the Recorder and Reproducer Committee.

Data, Acquisition, Telemetry, Instrumentation System Block Diagram, Standards, Data Requirements, Transducers Specifications, Video, Avionics Busses (e.g. 1553, ARINC-429, Ethernet etc.), Using Requirements to Configure an Analog Data Channel, Creating a PCM Map to Obtain a Sample Rate, Telemetry Bandwidth, Record Time, GPS, Audio, Telemetry Attributes Transfer Standard (TMATS), and Measurement Uncertainty – Interpreting the Results, current and future Beyond Line Of Sight (BLOS) concepts of operation. This is great introduction for new hires or a refresher for current employees.

Instructor: David Hodack, Aircraft Instrumentation Division Chief Engineer
NAWCAD Patuxent River, MD

Over the past 40 years Mr. Johnson has served the Navy in several capacities: Avionics technician (6 years U.S. Navy active duty), Instrumentation Engineer, Flight Controls Engineer, Flight Test Engineer, and Systems Engineer. Education, BS Electrical Engineering, and MS Systems Engineering. Currently serving as the Chief Engineer for the Aircraft Instrumentation Division. The division is the principle center of expertise in the design, development, integration, calibration, operation, and maintenance of airborne and ground based data acquisition system hardware and software. In this capacity, Mr. Johnson provides technical oversight/direction and operational policy to over 200 employees. Responsible for 100+ instrumented aircraft and multiple development efforts in support of NAWCAD’s flight test mission. Mr. Johnson has provided technical leadership for the following programs: F/A-18, F-35, V-22, KC-130, CH-53K, H-1, MH-60, E-2, C-2, MQ-25, MQ-8, MQ-4, P-8, and the C-27. Mr. Johnson represented NAWCAD as the Range Commanders’ Council (RCC) technical representative for developing standards with the other DOD ranges. Mr. Johnson has three grown children and resides in Valley Lee, MD with his wife.