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Military
Systems White Papers back
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Exploring
the Boundaries of Built In Test in Military Systems
Advances over the past 20 years in computing and compact
memory technology have significantly improved the
ability to incorporate sophisticated Built In Test
(BIT) facilities into complex military equipment and
systems.
EADS
North America Defense Test & Services can help in
assuring that during the design of new sophisticated,
complex military equipments BIT performance is optimized
and coupled with the most cost-efficient supporting
test solution.
Functional
Test ATE Systems White Papers back
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A
Practical Approach to Instrument Obsolescence in Test
Systems (pdf)
Printed in EPD Magazine Nov 2003
Obsolescence of instruments in Automatic Test
Equipment (ATE) Systems presents significant problems
for test system users, and an important challenge
for test system manufacturers. A solution has to allow
replacement while protecting investment.
Virtual
Instrument Software Architecture or VISA (www.vxipnp.org)
and Interchangeable Virtual Instruments or IVI (www.ivifoundation.org)
software standards are key examples of test programs
which incorporate standardised behavioural models
of instrument classes instead of specific instrument
commands. However, today's users of ageing test systems
find themselves unable to replace or repair an obsolete
instrument at the heart of their system.
Use
of Intelligent Mezzanine Carriers for Legacy Instrument
Replacement in VXI Systems (pdf)
Presented at Autotestcon 2003. Copyright
2003 IEEE, Racal Instruments, C&H Technologies,
and the authors.
Military and commercial Automated Test
Equipment (ATE) users are facing significant problems
keeping their ATE supportable for the life cycle of
the products they are being used to test. Further,
the cost of completely replacing the system is often
insignificant compared to the cost of replicating
and re-certifying the test program software. As a
result, requirements have increasingly surfaced to
replace legacy equipment in such a manner as to re-use
existing test program software.
Familiar
solutions such as one-to-one instrument replacement
with an instrument from another manufacturer, complete
redesign of the instrument with modern components,
or software emulation using new instruments on a different
platform have various issues with cost, implementation,
and future migration. An approach using open standard
mezzanine cards with platform-specific carrier boards
can provide an enormous selection of modern instruments
from many different manufacturers, extensive re-use
of legacy equipment and software, and a clear, easy
migration path to existing and future platforms.
Modular
ATE System Design
Faced
with ever-increasing constraints of budget reductions
and tight schedules, test engineers are looking for
faster, more cost-efficient ways to get ATE systems
up and running. This case study examines a process
known as Freedom Series, developed by Racal Instruments,
illustrating how the principles of design reuse and
automation, applied to ATE systems, can dramatically
reduce non-recurring engineering costs and accelerate
schedules.
Freedom
Series is a modular approach to ATE system design.
It exploits design reuse by standardizing components
such as test instruments, interface cables, software
drivers, and documentation. In addition, Freedom Series
provides software tools that automate many non-recurring
engineering tasks. The combination of modularity,
reuse, and automation accelerates the system integration
process and, in many cases, virtually eliminates non-recurring
engineering costs.
Is
PXI Test Here to Stay?
(Published with Permission from Frost
and Sullivan)
In
1998, at Frost
& Sullivan, we authored a study on CompactPCI
based test & measurement and data acquisition markets.
That study also included discussions on PXI (CompactPCI
eXtensions to Instrumentation), which at that time was
a relatively new development spearheaded by National
Instruments (NI). During the course of the research,
we were queried by several vendors such as "what
is PXI?", "is PXI really a platform to comprehend
with?", "why do we need PXI when we have VXI?"
These were pertinent questions considering that VXI
(VME eXtensions to Instrumentation) was an established
and popular modular platform and more importantly, that
it was an open standard platform. At that time, PXI
was still considered predominantly an NI technology,
although the company had announced that it was opening
up the specifications.
Developing
a VXI-based Pager Tester
To demonstrate the use of a VXIbus System for RF Networking
and Communications applications, a demonstration system
was produced for a typical application: RF pager testing.
The frequency of interest (930MHz) and the digital
protocol are typical of many wireless or wired communications
systems. The paper is a brief description of how this
system was developed and to serve as an example of
the flexibility of VXIbus hardware as well as the
ease of developing a software solution.
VXIbus
Systems in Military Applications
EADS North America Defense Test & Services has a
long history of providing test and measurement instruments
and systems to the aerospace and defense industries.
As a founding member of the VXIbus Consortium, EADS
North America Defense Test & Services (formerly
Racal Instruments) has taken the lead in developing
high-performance, modular solutions for a wide variety
of applications. The company has introduced a large
number of products that have found many uses in military
applications. EADS North America Defense Test &
Services has a global presence testing electronics for
all branches of the military services, on land, at sea,
and in the air.
Custom
Performance Test Systems Using Commercial Off-The-Shelf
(COTS) Hardware and Software Platforms
The primary goal of any Automatic Test System (ATS)
design is to provide the resources required to completely
satisfy a targeted test requirement. EADS North America
Defense Test & Services has taken this approach
and expanded it, to allow our test systems to continue
to grow and adapt to the reality of ever-changing test
requirements, without sacrificing performance. EADS
North America Defense Test & Services integrates
our own industry-leading test and measurement instruments
and chassis, along with those of many other vendors,
to provide flexible and scalable automatic test solutions.
Innovative software techniques, such as the Instrument
Software Layer for Automatic Test Equipment (isolATE™),
are implemented to allow our test systems to adapt to
new requirements without impacting legacy Test Program
Software.
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