Using an FPGA based system for IEEE 1641 waveform generation

As the complexity and functionality of electronic equipment increases over time, testing of modern day electronics has brought about the need for more complex stimulus and measurement capabilities. New methodologies such as Virtual and Synthetic Instrumentation have emerged to provide a more flexible ATE that can be re-configured to support a variety of technologies required by the modern day unit under test (UUT). Synthetic instruments can provide a solution to obsolescence in legacy ATEs and the flexibility required for commercial ATEs. A project was initiated to implement a prototype FPGA based reconfigurable Synthetic Instrument Core Framework that could directly interpret and use IEEE 1641 signals. IEEE Std 1641 provides for the accurate definition of stimulus and measurement signals, each of which are supported by a mathematical (functional) definition. During this project, both the software and hardware were developed for the core framework, which enabled the automatic generation and synthesis of synthetic instruments required to generate or measure a selection of IEEE 1641 signal models. The results obtained using the synthetic instruments could then be validated against simulations from EADS newWaveX™ signal development tool. This paper provides an overview of the project and the processes used to determine and implement an appropriate architecture for such a synthetic instrument system. It mainly focuses on the core of the system, i.e. the controller and codec subsystems. The paper concludes by discussing the suitability of an FPGA system for an IEEE 1641 compliant synthetic instrument system, comparing synthesized signals with simulated waveforms, and indicating suitable future enhancements to the system.