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market. If we apply the SDI approach
to the oscilloscope challenges above,
the test engineer (or TPS developer)
can easily implement custom trigger
functionality on the FPGA of the SDI
to emulate legacy trigger technology.
Some go further and use digital
signal processing to emulate the
analog performance of the legacy
instrument’s
analog-to-digital
converter technology.
While difficult to accomplish,
emulating
legacy
instrument
capabilities greatly reduces the risk
of TPS migration issues. Software-
Designed, or Synthetic Instruments,
offer a unique approach to test
equipment emulation.
Rapid RF Evolution
On the other side of the spectrum
(literally and figuratively) is the
challenge of keeping pace with the
rapid evolution of RF technologies
engineered into radars, signal
intelligence systems, communications
equipment, and other line-replaceable
units (LRUs). This rapid pace of
innovation keeps test engineers on
their toes in terms of building scalable
architectures that can not only test
the technologies of today, but scale
to support the next ”wave” of RF
capabilities.
The evolution of NI vector signal
analyzer bandwidth is one example
of how aerospace ATE systems
can scale to support the latest
radar, communications, and signal
intelligence systems.
Historically, most high-mix test
systems in aerospace/defense haven’t
included RF ATE subsystems as part
of the core configuration due to the
cost/benefit analysis of adding high-
performance (high-price) RF test
equipment to cover a small set of
LRUs. The asset utilization simply
couldn’t justify the expense. As the
number of RF-capable LRUs increases
and RF instrumentation becomes
more cost effective, it’s becoming
more common for RF equipment to
be part of core high-mix test system
configurations.
Traditional ATE systems commonly
used the “bolt-on” RF sub-system
strategy due to the cost of RF
equipment. As RF technology
becomes more prevalent in LRUs and
RF test equipment costs come down,
we’ll see RF test equipment become
integrated into the core system.
To illustrate the complexity facing the
test engineer, let’s use an example of
a test system for a direction-finding,
multi-antenna radar subsystem. In
the manufacturing environment,
it’s reasonable to assume that each
antenna will be tested serially using
a high-performance signal source and
a wide-band vector signal analyzer,
along with some high-speed serial
communication for controlling the
UUT. Saying this is easy would be a
massive overgeneralization, but when
you compare this to the capabilities
of the maintenance test system, it
sounds like a walk in the park. So
whose job is it to develop that complex
test system for planned maintenance
and field defective units? That’s right,
the test engineer.
When performing maintenance tests
or analyzing a returned unit from the
The evolution of NI vector signal analyzer bandwidth is one example
of how aerospace ATE systems can scale to support the latest radar,
communications, and signal intelligence systems.
Traditional ATE systems commonly used the “bolt-on” RF sub-system
strategy due to the cost of RF equipment. As RF technology becomes
more prevalent in LRUs and RF test equipment costs come down, we’ll
see RF test equipment become integrated into the core system.
22 l New-Tech Magazine Europe