Esterline AVISTA Application Note:

Rapid Prototyping for Test Stations

June 2008

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Esterline AVISTA Application Note: Rapid Prototyping for Test Stations

Recently, Esterline AVISTA was faced with a challenging project for a major new commercial aircraft's
hydraulic systems. The client not only had to meet an accelerated timeline for first flight, but they
needed the test system created and have testing begin before some of the key hardware
components were available. This paper describes the creative methods that EsterlineAVISTA employed
to mitigate the equipment availability and scheduling constraints to this project.

Qualification and acceptance level testing of manufactured avionics components involves

electrical, thermal, vibration, and pressure tests. For example, separate test stations are typically
dedicated to the testing of electronic limiting units, cabin pressure controllers, and pneumatic
valves. This project called for creating a testing system and integration laboratory for the
hydraulic subsystem being used on a groundbreaking new airliner. The plan for the hydraulic
system test station is shown in Figure 1.

Schematic Block Diagram of Hydraulic System Test Station:

• HYDIF GPM – (HYDIF-R, HYDIF-L, HYDIF-Standby) - Hydraulic Interface Function (HYDIF)
GPM contains software, sends/receives ARINC 664 Ethernet bus traffic.
• Bus Analyzer – Analyzes ARINC 664 and Common Area Network (CAN) Ethernet Bus traffic
not covered by Remote Data Concentrators (RDCs) and Remote Power Distribution Unit
(RPDU).
• RDC (near the top of the diagram) – Interface to pressure and temperature sensors, discrete
inputs and outputs, and CAN and ARINC Buses.
• RDC (near the bottom of the diagram) – Second RDC to create Main Engine Data
Concentrator (MEDC) interface.
• MEDC – Main Engine Data Concentrator (MEDC) sensor interface.
• Sensor Simulator – Software and hardware to allow real sensor interface or simulated
signals.
• Data Loader/HMPTT – Data Loader / Health Management Protocol Test Tool (HMPTT) used
for data loading and fault monitoring.
• Split COTS Switch
Figure 1: Schematic Block Diagram of Hydraulic System Test Station

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Esterline AVISTA Application Note: Rapid Prototyping for Test Stations

Selecting the Right Software Tool to Accelerate Testing

Project requirements called for the system to be thoroughly tested, and for testing to begin before
some of the key hardware components were available. Instead of using the traditional method of
coding the software in a high-level programming language to simulate the hardware components
of the hydraulic system, a faster method of generating the simulation software had to be
considered.

The test station for a new

commercial aircraft’s hydraulic
system was designed to provide a
platform to troubleshoot and
evaluate the operation of the
hydraulic control software. Since it
was not practical to include all of the
hardware components associated
with the hydraulic system, the test
station was built so that sensor
signals paths could be verified to
work with the hardware as they
would on an airplane. In order to
support troubleshooting, most of the
signals and the ARINC 664 Ethernet
bus traffic would be simulated. This Figure 2: Custom-Built Hydraulic System Test Station
allows the test station to recreate
specific scenarios when needed.

The test station was built from scratch. The team assembled the necessary hardware and
fabricated the necessary cabling to simulate interconnects between the aircraft systems.
Engineers also wrote the software interface to the test system’s hardware. The test station is
pictured in Figure 2. Typically, the software-to-hardware interface would be written in a high-level
programming language. Due to the client’s aggressive schedule, National Instruments' Windows-
based testing tool, LabVIEW®, was chosen to implement the interface.

LabVIEW is a visual programming language product that lets programmers develop scalable test,
measurement, and control applications quickly and easily. This graphical approach allows
programmers to build programs by simply dragging and dropping virtual representations of the lab
equipment, streamlining the process and making it simpler to create small applications.

Creating the Test System

LabVIEW programs/subroutines are called

virtual instruments (VIs). Each VI has three
components: a block diagram, a front panel and
a connector pane. A connector pane is a set of
terminals that corresponds to the controls and
indicators of that VI, similar to the parameter list
of a function call in text-based programming
languages. The connector pane defines the
inputs and outputs that can be wired to the VI so
that the VI can be used as a subroutine, called a
sub-VI.

Execution of a LabVIEW routine is determined

by the structure of the graphical block diagram
Figure 3: Example of a LabVIEW Program

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Esterline AVISTA Application Note: Rapid Prototyping for Test Stations

where functional nodes and their interfaces are

represented by blocks and wires. Front panels
allow an operator to input data into or extract
data from a running virtual instrument through
controls and indicators. The front panel can
also serve as a programmatic interface.

A VI can be executed as a program, with the

front panel serving as a graphical user interface
(see Figure 3). Or, when a VI is dragged and
dropped as a functional node onto the block
diagram, the front panel can define the inputs
and outputs for the given node through the
connector pane. This allows each VI to be
easily tested before being embedded as a
subroutine into a larger program.

A three-bay aircraft hydraulics system test

station was built, including all of the power
supplies and necessary test equipment to apply
the stimulus and read the data back from 13
remote data concentrator (RDC) units. The data
inputs, such as current, resistance, and
voltages, were simulated as if the system was
installed in an actual airplane.

Using LabVIEW, the test engineers were able

to quickly and easily create all the necessary
VIs associated with the hydraulic system.
Examples are shown in Figure 4, the hydraulic
system front panel, and Figure 5, the Figure 4: Hydraulic Simulator Front Panel
associated simulator block diagram. This
configuration allowed the manufacturer to manipulate the data values to all 13 different RDC units
in their own lab environment. The front panel
for each RDC unit allowed users to easily
manipulate the data using valid and invalid
values, thus verifying that the hydraulic
software responded correctly to both valid
and invalid inputs.

In the simulator, each RDC unit reads data

values such as pressure and temperature
and converts them to a message. This
message is sent through the ARINC 664
Ethernet bus to the high definition software
that controls the hydraulic functions in the
simulator. The high definition software reads
the data values and sends messages back to
the RDC, which produces signals to adjust
Figure 5: Hydraulic Simulator Block Diagram
the hydraulic devices accordingly.

Dealing with Equipment Challenges

When the project began, the RDC units were not available from the hydraulic system
manufacturer. To begin the test station development processes and support the original project
schedule, another software interface was developed so that the signals would bypass the RDC

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Esterline AVISTA Application Note: Rapid Prototyping for Test Stations

units and send the simulated ARINC 664 Ethernet traffic directly into the high definition software.
This bypass provided the ability to run the tests quickly, simulating the inputs without having the
RDC units available.

In the initial simulator tests, there were more than 400 messages sent to the high definition
software that simulated all the inputs that may be encountered in an actual airplane. Engineers
used this bypass to perform 'unit testing' and were able to verify the correctness of the messages
received by the high definition software without having to perform integrated testing. Once the
RDC units were available from the hydraulic system manufacturer, they were integrated into the
test station and engineers completed the final integration testing on time. As part of the final
integration, pressure, temperature, and Linear Variable Differential Transformer (LVDT) gauges
were connected by plugging them into the breakout box in the test station.

Summary

Even facing the client's aggressive schedule and delayed delivery of RDC units that were critical
to testing, Esterline AVISTA was able to successfully complete the project. Using LabVIEW to accelerate
test software development and create a user-friendly system with a graphical interface, as well as
strategically separating the testing phases into the two phases. The first phase, the unit testing
phase, validated the correctness of the messaging without the RDC units. The integration testing
phase validated the correctness of the entire system once the RDCs were available. Esterline AVISTA
enabled the hydraulic system manufacturer to meet their unusually short testing schedule and
meet the system deadline for first flight of the aircraft.

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Esterline AVISTA Application Note: Rapid Prototyping for Test Stations

About Esterline AVISTA

Esterline AVISTA/AVISTA Incorporated® has been building avionics test stations for more than
15 years. The company's success in completing these test station projects on time and on budget is
due to its unique combination of software and hardware development and testing experience. Our
engineers can design and build test stations and write the software to run tests to simulate all the
inputs of a complete mechanical and electronics system, as well as verify whether the outputs are
correct.

Esterline AVISTA, a subsidiary of Esterline Technologies Corporation, is a full life-cycle software

engineering services company specializing in critical systems development projects for
commercial and military avionics, medical device and government/military applications. With
nearly 2.5 million project hours completed, Esterline AVISTA fields the strongest, most stable, and
most capable DO-178B experienced software development team in the industry. The company has
completed more than 940 client projects over the last 20 years in systems design, requirements
capture and analysis, software design and implementation, and software verification and
validation. Esterline AVISTA, headquartered in Platteville, Wisconsin, is a SEI CMMI Maturity Level 5
rated company and an ISO 9001:2000 certified company.

For more information about rapid prototyping for test stations, contact Esterline AVISTA at:

Esterline AVISTA/AVISTA Incorporated

P.O. Box 636
1575 US Hwy 151 East
Platteville, WI 53818-0636
www.avistainc.com
avista@avistainc.com
Phone: 608.348.8815
Fax: 608.348.8819

Copyright ©2007&2008 AVISTA Incorporated. AVISTA and all other brand and product names are service marks, trademarks,
or registered trademarks of AVISTA Incorporated in the United States and other countries. All other marks are properties
of their respective owners.