Visual Test System - An
Architecture You Can Count On . . .
The
VTS offers the broadest and most powerful capabilities available
for PC-based data acquisition, processing, distribution, display,
and archiving. The
system can acquire data from multiple instances of multiple
inputs, such as PCM, time, analog, digital, MIL-STD-1553,
and serial data. All data instances can be processed in real
time, displayed in user-defined windows, archived, and output
as PCM, time, analog, digital, 1553, and serial data. Designed
for your enterprise, the VTS architecture embraces a true
client/server model where data can be distributed over standard
LANs to other VTS systems for archiving, processing, distribution,
and display.
Heartbeat
Display
The Heartbeat display sits
at the top of the VTS Software applications tree, showing
each VTS hardware and software module as well as module status.
A convenient launching point for all VTS functions, the display
is unique to your software and hardware configuration and
can be easily extended to launch and monitor your own applications.
Dynamic
Displays
Display real-time data in your choice of bar charts, cross
plots, dials, range charts, strip charts, tables, and text.
Each display type allows you to configure such properties
as size, color, line thickness, update rates, units, three-limit
bands, grids, and bitmap backgrounds. You can create unique
displays and elaborate models of vehicle configurations, cockpits,
views, and processes. Displays are created and modified in
real time without intermediate steps and maintain the look
and feel of other Windows applications. In fact, as standard
Microsoft COM objects, VTS displays can easily be copied and
embedded into other applications for reporting and presenting
data.
Project-Oriented
Database
To get you up and running faster, the VTS lets you load project
files and resume operation in exactly the same state as you
left it. A single command saves all files connected with VTS
operation, including display definitions, parameters, processing,
data distribution, and hardware setup. To modify a previous
test, make your changes and save the project under a new name.
Need to duplicate the original project’s test? Simply reload
it and start.
Processed/Derived
Parameters
The VTS Software processes all or selected data in real time.
A drag-and-drop GUI easily defines complex algorithms chosen
from a palette of over 25 functions, which can be expanded
with C++ algorithms you develop yourself. You can extract
all MIL-STD-1553 bus data and parameters encoded in a PCM
stream according to the IRIG Standard 106, Chapter 8. What’s
more, you can direct processed data to any of the system’s
real-time displays, archive the data, send the data to the
Analog & Digital Ports module, or distribute the data over
your LAN.
Data
Archiver
Archive raw and/or processed data from all sources at rates
limited only by your storage hardware. Data is stored in well-documented
formats for direct use by your applications, or data can be
exported directly to ASCII. A virtual “tape deck” control
panel provides an easy-to-use interface for recording and
playback functions. System or IRIG time is embedded in each
data block for direct file access to specific data for playback.
For visual analysis or speed, archived data can be played
back from 1/32nd to 8 times real time.
Software
Development Kit
Your applications can access the Visual Test System through
the Software Development Kit (SDK) to interact with the VTS,
obtain status, manipulate the setup database, and define VTS
data destined for the network, archiving, and real-time processing.
Client/Server
or Standalone
The VTS can be configured as a traditional standalone system
or as a client/server architecture system with I/O modules
on the server and totally independent display, processing,
and archiving functions on client PCs.
Wide
Array of I/O Options
Configure your VTS with an array of I/O modules, including
telemetry receivers, transmitters, bit synchronizers, decommutators,
and simulators; IRIG time I/O, analog I/O, digital I/O, serial
I/O, MIL-STD-1553 I/O, and ARINC 429; plus all the standard
PC I/O interfaces.
Software-Reconfigurable
Hardware
When you download new VTS software, you reconfigure hardware
functionality — automatically. That’s because VTS hardware
modules make extensive use of Field Programmable Logic Array
(FPLA) technology. FPLAs or Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs)
are software-configurable integrated circuits consisting of
hundreds of thousands of gates and thousands of bits of memory.
Take, for example,
the system’s single-slot Multifunction PCI Telemetry I/O module
(MFT735-PCI). Without mezzanines, the MFT735 replaces the
functions of four PCI or ISA boards, allowing you to support
larger telemetry applications in your standard PC workstation
or server. In just seconds, you can download software to change
from four decoms to two bit syncs and two decoms, and so on.
What’s more, as we add features to the MFT735, all you’ll
need is a software upgrade to keep your system up to date.
Highly
Configurable Decoms
VTS decommutators are highly configurable to handle special
requirements beyond standard IRIG formats (e.g., being able
to support variable frame lengths found in “Burst Mode” or
“Pass All Mode” to capture encrypted data and to then encode
the data later for decryption before commutation). Architected
for flexibility, these decoms are capable of total hardware
decommutation for very large frames, up to 128K words or more,
with data frames sorted by parameter for display and archiving
efficiency or by tag-data format for applications requiring
data before receipt of an entire frame. Time can be inserted
for every frame or subframe to a resolution of 1 microsecond.
In addition, delta time is attached to every word to ensure
accuracy for archiving and playback.
Simulator/Encoder
Encode PCM streams and simulate MIL-STD-1553 bus traffic from
the graphical user interface or from data files. Or use independent
PCM simulators to validate system setup using a combination
of static values and trigonometric functions. Setup is quick
and easy because it is based on your decommutator’s database.
Analog
& Digital Output
Real-time high-rate telemetry data can be sent directly to
the Analog & Digital Ports module in raw or processed format
using 1st- to 6th-order EU conversions. A single module can
receive high-speed data from all streams on the same Multifunction
Telemetry module. Data from other sources, including processed
parameters, parameterized MIL-STD-1553 data, and analog input,
is directed to the module via the PC’s bus.
Built-In
Performance
VTS modules are designed to maximize the system’s PC architecture,
while adhering to industry standards. PCI boards are plug-and-play
to ease installation, and they utilize one or more DMA engines
to transfer data without devouring processor cycles.
|
