Evaluation Engineering - 6

MIL/AERO TEST

Sponsored by

Marvin Test Solutions'
PATS-70 on the flightline.

SPECIAL REPORT

MEA, INSTRUMENT
CONSOLIDATION PUSHING
VENDORS TO INNOVATE
By Mike Hockett, Editor-in-Chief
From Aug. 26-29, the Gaylord National
Convention Center in National Harbor,
MD will welcome IEEE AUTOTESTCON
2019, bringing together the military/aerospace automatic test industry, government/military acquirers and users to share
new technologies, discuss innovative applications, and exhibit products and services. There are plenty of other industry
events throughout the year that highlight
solutions and applications within Mil/Aero
test, but AUTOTESTCON hits it right on
the head. Besides hosting 50+ exhibitors,
the conference offers plentiful education
opportunities for anyone in the industry
to get the latest on technology developments in Mil/Aero test.
The event was originally scheduled
for September, but a large increase
in attendance and exhibitors since
AUTOTESTCON was booked resulted
in a need for additional exhibiting and
meeting space, and thus a date change.
Timing with AUTOTESTCON, we at
Evaluation Engineering sought to provide

6

EVALUATION ENGINEERING AUGUST 2019

our readers with an in-depth report on the
topic of Mil/Aero test, asking vendors for
their thoughts on trends in technology
and the general market, innovation challenges they're facing, customer demands,
and what new Mil/Aero solutions they've
recently put on the market. Read on to
learn what they told us.

What's trending?
What technology or market trends are
vendors seeing in the area of Mil/Aero
test?
Stephen T. Sargeant, Major General, USAF
(Ret.) and CEO of Marvin Test Solutions:
"There is a clear trend to consolidate
test solutions across multiple platforms
by creating common scalable solutions,
thereby reducing the overall test footprint
and total cost of test. The use of a common test platform has historically been
confined to depot test, but this concept
is now moving to the flightline and backshop with programs such as BAT (Bomber

Armament Tester), which will support all
three currently operational USAF bombers
at both the organizational and intermediate levels. The MTS-3060A SmartCan
Universal O-Level Armament Test Set is
another example of a common test set that
is already deployed supporting all armament systems on multiple manned and
unmanned aircraft including F-16, F-15,
F/A-18, T-50, FA-50, Hawk, F-5, and more.
We expect the use of common test sets for
fighter aircraft, as well as rotary wing and
unmanned aircraft, and munition systems
to expand in the near future."
"The use of a common software development environment and test executive, which can be leveraged to cover
the functional requirements from the
flightline to depot, is also gaining traction. A common software development
environment can maximize the utilization of resources and training."
David Vondran, Sr. product marketing
manager at Astronics Test Systems: "We
see a wide variety of test requirements
coming from legacy platforms as well as
modernized platforms. For instance, tactical radios continue evolving to not only
supply secure communication, but higher
data rates via software defined radio (SDR)
architectures. Subsequently, test must be
in front of this technology trend; in particular, the emerging vital need for field test:
Returning defective units (or communication systems) to the factory is no longer
a viable option. Instead, depot and truly
portable test are emerging as strategically
important for maintenance activities."
Paolo Colombo, global industry director
for aerospace and defense at ANSYS: "The
aerospace and defense (A&D) industry is
at a pivotal crossroads, with an exponential number of new technologies and applications like additive manufacturing,
advanced electronics, hypersonics, and
digital twins changing the way we design, test, sustain, and operate aircraft
and weapon systems. This presents a
challenge because younger technologies
require extensive (and expensive) testing
and validation before adoption, yet the
pace of innovation is so fast that a technology could become obsolete before it
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