• AXN/VID/401 Axon module automatically detects, captures and compresses a single HD-SDI/3G-SDI channel and supports independent low-data-rate video channel for real-time telemetry

ETTC 2025 EUROPEAN TEST AND TELEMETRY CONFERENCE (Booth #10-1)  – TOULOUSE, FRANCE – June 10, 2025 – Curtiss-Wright’s Defense Solutions Division has further expanded its Axon™ range of data acquisition systems designed for use in demanding flight test programs with the introduction of the AXN/VID/401 digital video encoder module.  The compact H.264 video encoder card can automatically detect, capture and compress a single HD-SDI/3G-SDI channel. For telemetry applications, the module supports a separate, independent 720p low-data-rate transport stream to enable real-time monitoring on the ground, without using valuable bandwidth required to support for other flight test data. The compressed HD-SDI/3G-SDI channel’s video bitrate is kept constant (set to between 500 kbps and 40 Mbps) with multi-pass encoding and padding of the transport stream. The AXN/VID/401’s packetizer can also be configured to generate multiple industry standard formats, including iNET-X, IENA or IRIG 106 Chapter 10 packet streams. Examples of applications for this rugged module include video monitoring of cockpits, control surfaces, landing gear, direct monitoring of video compatible head/up and head/down displays and monitoring of space launcher separation and stores deployment.

“Our new AXN/VID/401 module is the first to bring H.264 video encoding capability to SWaP-optimized, high-performance Axon FTI systems,” said Brian Perry, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions. “Because it can separately encode a single HD-SDI/3G-SDI input to two independent video streams users can send high quality video to an on-board recorder for post-flight analysis, while telemetering a low bitrate video stream in real-time via a link such as Chapter 4/7.”

The AXN/VID/401 is designed to meet the specific needs of flight test applications with flexible encoding options and dual-independent stream outputs for storage and telemetry to optimize bandwidth needs. Its support for multiple industry standard formats allows captured video data to be easily integrated with other FTI data. The module’s video output, from a FIFO parameter, can be placed into an IRIG 106 chapter 4 PCM stream using an AXN/ENC/401 module or from its Ethernet output, over IRIG 106 Chapter 7 using an AXN/ENC/402.