Automated test system for test and evaluation of C-band transmitter packages for geosat spacecrafts

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to develop an Automated Test System (ATS) for the Test and Evaluation of C-Band Transmitter packages for GEOSAT Space crafts using Virtual Instrumentation. Efficiency, coverage, quality and accuracy for the test and evaluation of Device Under Test (DUT) can be increased by Automated Testing. Minimizing the errors anticipated with manual intervention. Automated Test System using Virtual instrumentation (VI) combines rapid development software and modular, flexible hardware to create user-defined test systems. Here Modular PXI (Peripheral component interface Extensions for Instrumentation) instruments from National Instruments are used with NI-LabVIEW software for realizing the ATS. For characterizing the C-Band Transmitter, Spectrum analyzer & Digital Multimeter (DMM) is configured in PXI form-factor and the Power supply is controlled through GPIB (General Purpose Interface Bus) bus. The complete software is developed using NI LabVIEW which takes care of configuring the test condition and analyzing the DUT performance. The user friendly GUI well takes care of user interaction to the ATS.