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- Acquiring Large Amounts of Data with a Low Cost/Signal Ratio
- Mega Data Acquisition System for Environmental Testing of Spacecraft and Satellite Systems
- NASA Structural Stress Test Data Acquisition System
- Building New ATE around LabVIEW and PXI
- Maintaining Test Equipment with Obsolescence Issues and Supporting Existing Systems 20+ Years
- Creating Test Solutions with NI and WinSoft
Three major trends are pervasive in the military and aerospace (mil/aero) market:
- Needing to acquire large amounts of data with an emphasis on the lowest-possible cost/signal ratio
- Using newer instrument control technologies for new test systems
- Needing to maintain test equipment with obsolescence issues and to support systems for more than 20 years
For the last 15 years, WinSoft Inc. has provided advanced test systems to the world’s major aerospace organizations for the testing of critical space and defense electronics. Its approach to design and implementation reflects its extensive experience and commitment to new-generation test system technology. As a National Instruments Alliance Partner specializing in custom mil/aero systems, WinSoft has observed and implemented test systems that incorporate the above trends for several years.
This article outlines four major mil/aero companies who, in following these trends, have successfully switched to the National Instruments platform. The following case studies provide a sample of test and measurement systems that use NI products and WinSoft expertise.
Acquiring Large Amounts of Data with a Low Cost/Signal Ratio
One mil/aero company selected WinSoft to design and develop a thermal control and monitoring system for a spacecraft and satellite system manufacturer. It needed to design a system that could monitor up to 320 temperature sensors of various types; provide real-time, closed-loop control of up to 96 heaters based on any of those temperature readings; display and store (in an SQL database) all acquired temperature sensors, heaters, and control-loop status information; and perform self-test and validation functions.
WinSoft developed the ATE system around NI hardware and software. The system consists of a real-time NI PXI chassis for data acquisition and control and a host PC for the data storage, display, and user interface. The system uses an NI R Series multifunction RIO device along with the NI LabVIEW FPGA Module to provide individual PWM control of heater power. WinSoft used the LabVIEW Real-Time Module along with the LabVIEW PID Control Toolkit to implement the heater control algorithm. Several PXI multiplexer modules route the sensor inputs to a PXI digital multimeter (DMM) to deliver high-speed acquisition of all the various sensor types. NI M Series multifunction data acquisition (DAQ) devices provide additional measurement and control functions. By using NI hardware and LabVIEW software, WinSoft created a high-channel-count system that fits in a compact space. Additionally, WinSoft used NI Requirements Gateway software to capture and trace the implementation of the requirements.
Figure 1. This system uses LabVIEW software and PXI hardware to perform several functions, including monitoring up to 320 temperature sensors and providing real-time control of up to 96 heaters based on any of those temperature readings.
Mega Data Acquisition System for Environmental Testing of Spacecraft and Satellite Systems
Another satellite manufacturer was tasked with designing, developing, and building a computerized acquisition and processing system for the environmental testing of spacecraft and satellite systems in a thermal vacuum chamber. The data needed to be recorded continuously every few seconds over a period of a few months. The challenge was designing a system that could monitor up to 1,900 temperature sensors plus 10,000 telemetry and command signals of various types; perform additional user-defined calculations; provide real-time control of up to 225 heaters based on any of those temperature readings or user calculations; store the acquired data and status information; and display the results in a highly configurable GUI. The manufacturer needed 225 PID loops to run in parallel, and the operator wanted to use up to 50 different windows with various graphical and image displays in real time. Several of these systems needed to run independently while acquiring and sending data to a central Oracle database.
WinSoft created a system featuring a real-time PXI terminal and several NI SCXI chassis for data acquisition and control; a host-server PC for data storage, communication, and user access management; and multiple client PCs for the display and UI. WinSoft used the LabVIEW Real-Time Module and the LabVIEW PID Control Toolkit to implement the heater control algorithm. Several SCXI multiplexer modules route the sensor inputs to PXI DMM modules to provide high-speed acquisition of all the various sensor types. Using NI hardware and software, WinSoft delivered a high-channel-count system with excellent measurement speed and accuracy. Again, WinSoft used NI Requirements Gateway software to capture and trace the requirements implementation.
Figure 2. This system monitors a large amount of data, including up to 1,900 temperature sensors and 10,000 telemetry and command signals of various types.
NASA Structural Stress Test Data Acquisition System
NASA needed to design and develop a structural strength test branch to provide a mobile, self-contained structural strength test data acquisition system. The new system needed to measure hundreds of signals while providing a modular software and hardware test environment. More than 15 testers had to function as a huge data acquisition system to collect real-time data during structural stress tests of space shuttle components. The tester also needed to support the layout and shape of legacy I/O panels with more than 300 circular connectors.
WinSoft used a combination of NI PXI and SCXI modules and a WinSoft custom-design PCB for calibration and synchronization. The PCB is housed inside an NI SCXI-1181K Module Components Kit, a breadboard module used to integrate custom circuitry into an SCXI system.
Figure 3. The system WinSoft developed for NASA houses more than 15 testers that collect real-time data during structural stress tests of space shuttle components.
Building New ATE around LabVIEW and PXI
The U.S. Navy needed to design and develop a generic radio tester as a replacement for a three-rack legacy system. It required a system that could provide RF signals to a variety of radios while offering a modular software and hardware test environment. The legacy system used old instruments and had a large footprint. The new system needed to reside in one rack and support future projects for the next 10 years.
WinSoft used NI hardware and software to write a new TPS in LabVIEW and created the ATE with interchangeable modules and space for future growth. The system consists of several PXI modules, including the PXI-4070 DMM, the PXI-5412 arbitrary waveform generator, and the PXI-5670 2.7 GHz RF vector signal generator.
Figure 4. This radio tester replaced a legacy system and provides RF signals to several radios.
Maintaining Test Equipment with Obsolescence Issues and Supporting Existing Systems 20+ Years
The Systems Support Engineering Division of the U.S. Navy began to address major obsolescence and support issues with its array of RF automatic test systems (ATSs) along with its associated automatic test equipment (ATE). Preventive maintenance records and failure analysis trend reports indicated that some devices, such as the auxiliary test instruments and discrete components, were reaching their practical end-of-life supportability. In some cases, the Navy could not obtain replacement components. The Navy needed to upgrade or replace its test stations in a timely and cost-effective manner. Its ATS technologies were more than 20 years old but were still used extensively for diagnosing and repairing various hybrid and RF electronic subsystem modules for local ship-to-shop combatant vessels; Electronic Warfare Support System submarine programs; and other command, control, communication, computer, and intelligence projects.
Using a generic solution that incorporated WinTE-7000 technology and several PXI modules, WinSoft could easily work with the Navy to simply replace obsolete instruments residing in an ATS without changes to the software, regardless of the programming language. WinTE-7000 technology also works with current and future technologies such as PXI and synthetic instruments.
The Navy saved an estimated $22 million USD for all seven ATS platform upgrades.
Creating Test Solutions with NI and WinSoft
The above-described systems minimize cost, risk, and schedule – the main challenges of mil/aero projects. A full project life cycle is performed and controlled via a variety of software and hardware tools, which are seamlessly connected to each other. Over the last three years, WinSoft has delivered several complex mil/aero projects to meet customers’ expectations while using the latest technology from National Instruments.
Ehud Shany (Bachelor of Science in Computer Science) has been the president/CEO of WinSoft Corporation (Santa Ana, California) since 1994. For the past 12 years, WinSoft has delivered hundreds of successful software and hardware projects to companies including Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, and the U.S. Navy. Shany is an expert in test and measurement applications and has extensive experience in automation, robotics, networking, and real-time and database applications. You can reach him at ehud@winsoft.com or (949) 428-4844, ext. 202.
Gabriela Schwartzberg serves as WinSoft’s director of engineering. She has more than 25 years of test and measurement experience in the mil/aero industry and brings experience from two other T&M companies to her role at WinSoft. Over the last 12 years at WinSoft, Schwartzberg has been involved in hundreds of projects from developing software, to designing ATE, to managing projects. You can reach her at gabriela@winsoft.com or (949) 428-4844, ext. 204.
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