Arendar Enterprise Test Data Management Software

Overview

Arendar Enterprise Test Data Management (TDM) Software is designed to scale from a single test station to a comprehensive solution used by product design, validation and manufacturing across an entire enterprise. Arendar integrates with many popular test and measurement development environments including LabVIEW, LabWindows/CVI, TestStand and Visual Studio .NET. Arendar is tightly integrated with TestStand providing test engineers and developers the capability to access the full power of a relational database directly from the TestStand development and execution environment. Arendar has built-in support for storing test results directly from a custom step type in a TestStand sequence or automatically import data from XML or ASCII test reports generated by TestStand.

NI TestStand

National Instrument’s TestStand is a powerful test executive that includes a robust multi-threaded sequencing engine capable of calling automated tests through adaptors for LabVIEW, ActiveX, DLLs, and .NET. The TestStand engine is exposed as an ActiveX automation server with a fully programmable API, complete with expression building logic, custom step types, and a reusable process model architecture. TestStand is an ideal test executive platform to standardize on across an enterprise because of the high level of modularity and code reuse the TestStand architecture affords.

Arendar Add-On for TestStand

The Arendar add-on for TestStand consists of a new Type Palette of custom step types to communicate with the Arendar API and a new Process Model for automatic management of Arendar objects from within a TestStand execution. The suite of Arendar custom step types includes the following groups and types:


Figure 1 – Arendar Custom Step Types

When used with the Arendar process model, only the Data Mapper step type is required - opening, closing, and saving of the Arendar data objects is automatically managed within the Arendar process model.

A typical development scenario involves retrofitting an existing TestStand sequence to leverage the Arendar data management system. If the existing test sequence is using the default sequential process model shipped with TestStand, the steps required to add Arendar connectivity are minimal. The Arendar process model is simply the default sequential process model enhanced for use with Arendar data objects. Take the Noise Test sequence example shown below in Figure 2. This represents a TestStand sequence already developed that has been targeted for Arendar integration. The sequence consists of a single call to a LabVIEW Noise Test VI. After execution, the Noise Test VI passes the acquired data to TestStand variables. When executing, the Noise Test VI acquires a noisy sine wave and calculates the maximum signal amplitude.


Figure 2 – Noise Test Sequence and VI

After execution, the LabVIEW VI passes the acquired data back to TestStand local Variables. Note that the Waveform Time and Voltage values are stored in TestStand as 1-D numeric arrays. See Figure 3.


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Figure 3 – TestStand Local Variables for Noise Test Sequence

To modify this existing sequence for use with Arendar requires three steps:
1. Change the sequence process model to the Arendar sequential process model.
2. Add Arendar – Data Mapper steps to the sequence to map TestStand variable data to Arendar data objects.
3. Override the Arendar_OpenProductTest callback on the Arendar process model to configure the Product Test type to open.

Note that step 1 is optional. If you do not choose to use the Arendar process model, opening, closing, and saving of the Arendar objects will be the responsibility of the sequence developer. All steps necessary to manage Arendar data objects without the Arendar process model are present in the Arendar type palette.

After changing to the Arendar process model, the next step is to insert the Arendar Data Mapper step. Edit the Data Mapper step to add and delete configured maps between TestStand variables and Arendar data objects. In the editing dialog window, TestStand expressions and the corresponding Arendar XPaths are listed in a table for inspection. See Figure 4.


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Figure 4 – Noise Test Sequence with Arendar Data Mapper Step and Editor

To edit the Maps, the sequence developer clicks the Edit button to display the graphical mapping tool shown in Figure 5.


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Figure 5 – Graphical Data Mapping Tool

For the Raw Data table, the Data Mapper will accept both TestStand arrays and single values. For the Noise Test, we will map TestStand arrays to the Waveform values of Time and Voltage. The TestStand expression browser can be activated to assist in building the appropriate TestStand expressions, as illustrated in Figure 6.

When all data maps from TestStand to Arendar are complete, the sequence developer accepts the changes and saves the modified sequence file. Multiple Arendar Data Mapper steps may be used in several locations to transfer data from TestStand to Arendar at the developer’s convenience.


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Figure 6 – TestStand Expression Browser Mapping Numeric Array to Arendar Result Table Property ‘Voltage’

The final step in updating a TestStand sequence to communicate with Arendar Data Objects is to override the Arendar_OpenProductTest callback in the Arendar sequential process model. In the callback, the developer is required to configure the Open Product Test step to instruct the process model what type of Product Test object to open.


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Figure 7 – Arendar_OpenProductTest Callback and Step Editor

Arendar also provides data import wizards that can parse TestStand reports in XML format and create a database schema and import the test results generated by TestStand directly into the database as demonstrated by the Arendar data viewer shown in Figure 8. Test results from TestStand XML based reports can be imported manually with the Import Wizard or automatically using Arendar’s Import Agent.


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Figure 8 – Arendar Wizard Imports TestStand XML Reports and Data Into Database

Conclusion

The Arendar test data management system is seamlessly integrated within the TestStand development environment, exposing the full power of a relational database to store and retrieve test data. The Arendar process model custom step types allow for easy management of data objects and saving of results to a database from TestStand while still benefiting from development investment in existing test sequences.

About VI Technology

VI Technology is a leading data management and engineering services provider for test and measurement systems. VI Technology offers hardware and software systems integration and consulting services, as well as a range of standard and custom products, including the Arendar test data management system. Utilizing the company’s industry and technology experts, VI Technology serves customers in industries including communications, semiconductor, defense, biomedical, automotive and contract manufacturing.

Featured Resources

Arendar Enterprise Test Data Management Brochure
Learn how Arendar Enterprise Test Data Management software manages test data, the technologies in Arendar, desktop and enterprise configurations, scalability, and integration with TestStand and LabVIEW.

Purchasing Versus Developing a Test Data Management Solution
Learn about the benefits of using an off-the-shelf test data management solution versus developing a proprietary system yourself.

Managing Test Data
This application note covers the need for managing test data, advantages of using databases in a test system, an introduction to databases, designing a test database, relational databases available today, interfacing to databases, and connecting test software to databases.

“Manage Your Enterprise Data with Arendar and NI TestStand, LabVIEW, LabWindows/CVI, and DIAdem” Archived Webcast
This Webcast explores connectivity between Arendar Enterprise Test Data Management software and NI TestStand, LabVIEW, LabWindows/CVI, and DIAdem. Discover how the integration of these software products in design, validation and manufacturing test applications is helping companies increase productivity, reduce product lifecycle costs, improve product quality, and decrease time to market.

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