The requirement & Solution

The project called for the development of an automated test system for the functionality testing of flight deck control panels for switch closures, indicator light illumination and potentiometer settings; there was also the need to design an interface board that could provide a single connector for use with multiple cable harnesses. The system had to be compact and need to be developed with an easy-to-use interface for the test operators.

Starting with PXI as the core platform, Amplicon specified the Geotest GX7400 PXI power supply to meet the needs for supplying power to the unit under test (UUT). Using the GX7400 to supply 28 VDC, the control panel switches, potentiometers and indicators were tested for full functionality; additional test components included relay cards to route power from the DC power supply to the panel, a digital multimeter (DMM) card, and CAN-bus interface cards.

To support the testing of several different types of control panels, an interface board was designed to provide a common interface between all test system resources and the156-pin Ziff connector. With a common tester interface, only a unique cable assembly is required to support each specific type of UUT resulting in a simple and compact test solution with support for a variety of different control panels. A test program prompted the user to actuate switches or observe status indicators controlling all test functions.

Results

The development of this test platform was made easier by selecting the Geotest GX71000B chassis as the core component; this made it possible to complete the design in a few months. By standardising on Geotest ATEasy as the development software, the test engineers were able to develop multiple test solutions in a relatively short period of time.

Why Amplicon?

The Amplicon PXI specialist team worked with Geotest and the client test engineers to produce a system that met space constraints but didn't compromise the core objective of simplicity and speed.