Case Studies

Modular Hardware-in-the-loop Systems with Shared Test Equipment

Hardware in the Loop
Posted in Aerospace and Defense, Test & Measurement Automation

Summary

DMC developed and delivered a rocket Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) system to a leading contributor in human spaceflight advancement.  The customer's units under test, including propulsion and crew modules, had a large number of diverse signal types that needed to be emulated to test control systems for various subsystems of their rocket. DMC employed a modular design in the designed signal emulation hardware, allowing the composition of two separate HIL systems while minimizing non-recurring engineering (NRE) between both systems. This modular design also allowed DMC to develop a single set of shared test equipment which was flexible enough to test both HIL systems and reduced the customer's capital expenditure.

Solution

united electronics industry logoDMC engaged with this customer through our collaborative partnership with United Electronic Industries (UEI) to design and fabricate two HIL systems for different rocket subsystems to support the customer’s flight control software testing needs. To deliver a cost-effective solution, DMC leveraged a modular signal emulation design with a standalone set of shared test equipment, minimizing non-recurring engineering costs and capital expenditures. 

 

Modular Signal Emulation Hardware 

The customer had 15+ signal types that they needed to emulate to fully validate their control software. DMC was able to develop a modular signal emulation system based on UEI hardware which allowed each signal type to be composed into different HIL configurations based on the client’s requirements.  

Modular Signal Emulation Hardware

Shared Test Equipment 

A common practice at DMC when designing test systems is to include the capability to perform a self-checkout of the system. This provides a way to perform automated periodic checkout of a system throughout its lifespan. For this customer, DMC was asked to fabricate two systems, both of which needed to have the capability for automated check-out.  

To reduce capital expenditures, DMC designed a set of Shared Test Equipment which was capable of automatically testing both HIL systems, while also maintaining the option for signal count expansion.  

DMC developed a RESTful API for the Shared Test Equipment to enable automated control by the customer’s existing test executive software.

Conclusion 

DMC was able to design and fabricate modular Hardware-in-the-Loop systems that were able to meet the customer’s evolving requirement and maintain flexibility for increasing signal counts in each HIL system. 

Learn more about DMC’s Aerospace and Defense expertise and contact us for your next project.    

Customer Benefits

  • Reduced cost by designing modular components 
  • Modular design enabled composition of multiple HIL system 
  • Modular design allows for future expansion to the system to meet customer’s evolving requirements 
  • Software control for Test Equipment enabled using common RESTful API to allow for integration with customer’s existing software

Technologies

  • HIL Racks 
  • Test Equipment Rack 
    • Pickering Interfaces Relay Matrices 
    • Keysight DMM 
    • Keysight Programmable Power Supply 
    • Keithly SMU 
    • Siglent Function Generator 
    • RESTful API written in Python