Automated test equipment synthetic instrumentation

When the USAF's F-15 became operational in the mid-1970s, intermediate avionics test support was provided by specific test stations designed to support technology workload groups, ranging from controls and displays to communications/navigation equipment, with many of the test packages requiring complex interface test adapters (ITAs). These testers are quickly becoming obsolete and more difficult and costly to maintain because replacement parts are no longer available. Alternative technical solutions are required to ensure fielded avionics test equipment technology maintains pace with fielded systems and operational requirements, ensuring the availability of mission critical avionics assets. In order to demonstrate a solution to these growing issues, Boeing is tailoring an emerging F-15 support system by inserting agile rapid global combat support (ARGCS) technologies including synthetic instrumentation (SI), to reduce the use of traditional COTS (commercial-off-the-shelf) instruments. This type of arrangement highlights the potential benefits of SI, which include the use of non-active (wire only) ITAs to the USAF. During the past decade the USAF has expressed a desire for this passive ITA hardware design, since it facilitates reduced development time, increases equipment reliability/availability and decreases long-term sustainment cost compared to the existing specialized complex active hardware design approach. During this 12-month program, SI is being integrated into the selected ATE platform to provide analog, serial bus test and video capability by replacing existing VXI-based instruments. Several F-15 line replaceable unit (LRU) test program sets (TPS) are being integrated and/or adapted to use the Sl-equipped support system, demonstrating the ability to rapidly prototype TPSs. By utilizing parallel testing capabilities of the latest technology synthetic instruments, a significant reduction in test times is also expected. This paper discusses the engineering effort required to integrate SI into the selected ATE platform including the hardware and software design approaches employed, as well as the methodology used to re-engineer TPS designs to leverage SI and the benefits realized during the project as well as potential applications to DoD customers.