Evaluation_Engineering_October_2020 - 17

components built into one vehicle, the requirements for test are practically limitless," said Jean-Levy Beaudoin, VP of sales,
Western Europe. "Over time Averna has
developed hundreds of customized test
and assembly stations covering everything
from top to tires. With two dedicated vision labs, we have designed solutions for
everything from dashboard to transmission-valve inspection to camera module
assembly using active alignment, a huge
contributor to ADAS camera and lidar." He
described the active alignment process for
optical device assembly as deliberate and
thorough. "Averna can offer a complete assembly and test line for those ADAS products as well as lab tools to characterize the
process and optics," he said.

Infotainment testing
Averna also offers a dedicated solution
for infotainment testing. "The AST-1000
all-in-one infotainment signal source is
an off-the-shelf instrument with the capability to generate signals for radio, video,
navigation, and connectivity (Bluetooth,
Wi-Fi, V2X), covering the infotainment
system from top to bottom," Beaudoin
said. "It is a hugely practical tool, saving
both on costs and production space by
amalgamating multiple protocols with
one piece of hardware. It's also highly
flexible and future-proofed, based on NI's
PXI platform."
NI's value in automotive test lies in
the reconfigurability of its test systems,
according to Jeffrey Phillips, head of automotive marketing. "They're modular
and software-connected, so the testers
can be upgraded as the core technology
changes," he said. "On top of this highly
versatile platform, we focus on the highgrowth areas of automotive across EVs,
autonomy, and the connected car. We
provide specific test systems across the
vehicle, including EV battery and inverter testers, ADAS sensors, ECU test,
and high-volume electronics production
test."
When asked about what aspects of
the automotive electronics lifecycle the
company addresses, Phillips said, "As a
test company, our priority is within the
validation and production test of the automotive sensors, ECUs, and subsystems.

That bleeds back into design and forward
into monitoring and maintaining test assets, but our expertise is in automated
test of electronics."
Pico Technology addresses two aspects
of automotive test: design verification and
aftersales diagnosis and fault-finding.
Regarding the former, Trevor Smith, test
and measurement business-development
manager, said, "Pico test and measurement products address primarily the
component and physical-layer elements of
automotive design verification. PicoScope
6 software includes 21 serial protocol
decoders as standard. Some of those are
used extensively in the automotive industry: CAN/CAN FD, LIN, BroadR-Reach,
FlexRay, and SENT."
Smith added that getting a complex
automotive design functioning is just the
start. "Design integrity has to be proven
before the vehicle can be placed on the
market," he said. "Extensive simulation
is required from the outset, coupled with
physical testing of prototypes and analysis
of statistically significant volumes of test
data. PicoScope 6000E deep-memory oscilloscopes are ideal in that scenario and, in
some cases, act as hardware-in-the-loop

coupled with packages like MATLAB for
extended vehicle testing."
According to Phil Service, automotive
business development manager, "Pico
Automotive provides the aftersales service network with the tools to handle both
the electronics content and also the systems controlled by electronics. With conventional ICE, this includes monitoring of
in-cylinder pressure, exhaust pulsations,
and other physical effects that can be tied
to timing and activation by ECUs. With
hybrid and BEV, we also cover those new
systems from charging issues through
to systems not found on ICE, such as resolver circuits. Our range of solutions is
expanding continuously as the challenges
for modern workshops evolve, driven by
new technology."
Marvin Test Solutions offers a range
of instrumentation, subsystems, and
systems that can address the majority
of automotive test needs, according to
Jon Semancik, director of marketing.
"The TS-700 Series GENASYS benchtop
preconfigured functional test platform is
a series of preconfigured, modular test
systems that addresses a range of analog, digital, mixed-signal, and avionics

Pico Technology
PicoScope 4425A
oscilloscope shown
in an engine bay.
Courtesy of Pico
Technology Ltd.

OCTOBER 2020 EVALUATIONENGINEERING.COM

http://www.EVALUATIONENGINEERING.COM

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