Evaluation Engineering - 9

replacements for the popular VXI switch
modules of the 1990s and early 2000s.
Security is an important issue for Mil/
Aero Applications. As our modules carry
minimal memory and rely on the system
PC to do the "heavy lifting," it is relatively
simple to clear the memory, ensuring that
no sensitive information can be carried
out of the test environment."
Woppman, ASSET InterTech: "Unknown
potential risk due to industry consolidation and its impact. With Raytheon and
UTC, plus L-3 and Harris, and potentially
others, it is not certain what risks might
be posed for the test vendors."
Rohde & Schwarz' R&S FSVA3000 signal and
spectrum analyzer.

McCarthy, Rohde & Schwarz: "To support our customers, it is incumbent for
test equipment suppliers like Rohde &
Schwarz to provide users with the necessary tools to demonstrate compliance
with security procedures. This includes
hardware, software, and documentation
such as:
* USB mass memory write protection
option
* Security write protection for solidstate drives options
* Removable hard drives
* Instrument security and erasure
procedures
* Write protection utility installation procedures for each operating
system
* A letter of volatility"

test solutions that can quickly and accurately diagnose problems with increasingly complex and sophisticated aircraft
armament and munitions. In addition,
many of these same customers face major obsolescence issues, as they are being
asked to extend the service life of existing aircraft with advanced armament
and weapons-placing further demands
on maintainers forced to use outmoded
and obsolete test sets. MTS' focus is on
delivering solutions enabling common
maintenance test equipment that can
support multiple aircraft across all maintenance levels, thus streamlining logistics
and training."
R&D, quality assurance, test labs,
and production engineers at Kikusui
Electronics: "The frequency used
in aircraft (at the generator) was
400 Hz in the past, but recent models are using variable frequency of
360-800 Hz. Some defense-related
aircraft demands test frequency of
2-3 kHz. At the same time, we see
increasing demand on power capacity based on the MEA trend. In order
to provide high quality output with low
distortion for evaluation test even at a
higher frequency and higher power, we
redeveloped our circuit design and were
still able to keep the footprint small."
Vondran, Astronics: "In depot settings,
the automation of electrical test simplifies

maintenance activities and enables maximum up-time of the tested platform. As
defect mechanisms become more complex, the test solutions must evolve to
maintain ease-of-use while reliably finding faults. Depot test needs suppliers to
ruggedize, automate, and optimize solutions to last longer, which is fueling the
shift to modular instrumentation. Depot
test or backshop testing of field return
devices frequently reveals no fault found
(NFF) or cannot duplicate (CND) results
(i.e., the radio is working properly). In this
case, the root cause of the original fault
lies elsewhere in the field. Moving a more
resilient analysis closer to the original
diagnostic can minimize the NFF/CND
problem. A truly portable solution is necessary to simplify maintenance activities
to find the root cause."
Amplifier Research: "Customers continue
to ask for full turnkey systems and full
automation of said systems. While it is
difficult to automate some of the tests
required per Mil/Aero standards, it is a
challenge that test equipment manufacturers have to overcome. To better suit the
market, equipment manufacturers and
integrators are finding new ways to better
integrate equipment into more easy-touse packages."
Butler, National Instruments: "In areas
like RADAR and EW, customer require
things such as:

What are customers asking for?
What features or innovations are customers asking for in Mil/Aero test?
Sargeant, Marvin Test Solutions:
"Customers are often seeking innovative

A VXI vs. PXI comparison graphic from Pickering Interfaces.
AUGUST 2019 EVALUATIONENGINEERING.COM

9
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Evaluation Engineering

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