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Textron Systems Improved ATE Systems

Case Studies

Textron Systems

Textron Systems is a leading developer of smart munitions, sensor and surveillance systems, vehicle protection systems, as well as software and electronics to meet the needs of global aerospace and defense industries. Located in Wilmington, Massachusetts, USA, Textron Systems manufactures innovative precision strike weapons, smart submunitions, intelligent ground munitions, and ground and airborne surveillance systems. The Sensor Fuzed Weapon, a smart anti-armor weapon, made its combat debut in Operation Iraqi Freedom where accounts of its successful use describe the destruction of multiple armored tanks with a single weapon. In 2003, the company was awarded several major contracts in the area of unattended ground sensors (UGS) including Future Combat Systems Tactical and Urban UGS for the U.S. Army and remote Unattended Ground Sensor systems for the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Marine Corps.

Textron Systems’ Test Equipment and Tool Engineering Group employs the latest technology to solve complex testing problems and to create stateof-the-art ATE systems for Textron Systems’ internal customers. By partnering with other companies, each who lead their own industries, the company has created a worldclass custom ATE systems capability.

In this document, Steve Teahan, Director of Test Engineering, along with Textron Systems’ test equipment development engineers share how they have used the Keysight Technologies, Inc. N6700 Modular Power System in three different ATE systems, and how the Keysight N6700 has made it possible for Textron Systems to deploy systems that are better, smarter, and less expensive.

The ATP System

This case study explores how Textron Systems took advantage of the built-in sophisticated measurements of the Keysight N6700 to simplify their system design when making pulsed current measurements to determine run time of a battery powered device.

The ESS-Vibration System

This case study explores how Textron Systems needed a small and flexible DC power source, and so by selecting the Keysight N6700, they were able to find a solution that is small in size while reducing costs by leveraging the knowledge and inventory assets from the ATP system.

The Sensor Fused Weapon ATE System

This case study explores how Textron Systems needed a reliable way to test a sophisticated IR sensor. Textron Systems selected the Keysight N6700 because of its easy connectivity to the PC over LAN. But perhaps more importantly, the Keysight N6700 provided the ability to run independent from the controlling PC, ensuring IR sensor safety in the event of a PC hang-up during the test.

Background on the Keysight N6700

The Keysight N6700 Low-Profile Modular Power System (MPS) gives test system integrators in the aerospace/defense, consumer electronics, computers and peripherals, communications, semiconductor and automotive industries the flexibility to optimize performance, power and price to match test needs. The Keysight N6700 is a family of 20 modules ranging in power from 50 W to 300 W at three different performance levels (basic, high-performance, and precision). Test system integrators can mix-and-match any of these 20 modules in any of the three MPS mainframes to create a DC power system of 1 to 4 outputs totaling 400 W, 600 W or 1200 W of DC power, at prices starting at $1,000 per output.

The Keysight N6700 modular power system offers industry leading processing speeds up to 10 to 50 times faster than other programmable power supplies, built-in digital multimeters, a wide selection of 50 W, 100 W and 300 W output power levels at various voltage/current combinations, and the choice of three performance levels in a 1U-high package. The Keysight N6700 MPS also offers highspeed test extensions and auto ranging output capabilities that help simplify system configuration and enable one power supply to do the job of several traditional ones.

The Keysight N6700 is a system ready test instrument that provides universal serial bus (USB 2.0), 10/100 Base-T Ethernet (LAN) and general-purpose interface bus (GPIB) interfaces as standard features, allowing quick and simple connectivity to a PC, or to a network for access across an engineering workgroup. The Keysight N6700 can also be remotely operated from any browser by connecting to its built-in Web page for control and monitoring of power supply operations. The Keysight N6700 is fully compliant with the LXI Class C specification.

The ATP System

Textron Systems’ team has developed an ATP (Acceptance Test Procedure) system for a new program under development within the company. On this system, 100% sampling is done of devices within the new program. The ATP system is running on a Windows 2000® PC. Textron Systems has selected Keysight VEE 7.0 to develop the software. Instruments are interfaced to the PC using GPIB, while RS-232 is used to control the DUT and the RF test gear. Textron Systems has selected the Keysight N6700 Modular Power System as the DC power source and measurement solution for the ATP system. Textron Systems made this decision based on the small size and advanced measurement capabilities of the Keysight N6700. 

Each ATP system has one Keysight N6700 Low-Profile Modular Power System Mainframe with four DC Power Modules: three modules provide DC power the DUT and one module provides power other auxiliary circuits in the ATP system. The Keysight N6700 also simplified Textron Systems’ system design because it is small, and according to Steve’s team “smaller is better”. The ATP system is a 3 bay, 1.6 meter system. By dedicating only 1U of rack space to the DC source, the Textron System team was afforded the most flexibility possible for the remainder of the other test equipment needed to test this DUT. 

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