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MP3 player
Internet/E-mail
Cellular Phone
Digital Camera
Gaming
High resolution
display
Smart Phone
PDA
Electronics Manufacturing Challenges
• Shortening product release cycles
• Increasing number of products to test
• Escalating device functionality
• Converging technologies (RF, audio, video, digital…)
• Maximizing test throughput
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Military
Aircraft
Digital Radio &
Telemetry
High Density
Data Storage
& Imagery
Onboard
Computer
GPS Navigation
Satellite Link
Multimedia
Display
Remote
Diagnostics
Field Service
Tools
System Diagnostics
& Documentation
Mil/Aero Systems Test Challenges
• Integration of hundreds of subsystems
• Test coverage and quality a necessity
• Escalating device sophistication
• Converging technologies (RF, audio, video, digital…)
• Long product life-cycles
• Legacy TPS reusability
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Common Needs
No matter the industry, every company has testing needs for their products to ensure quality. A proper automated testing framework (either built in-house or off-the-shelf) should:
1. Provide a flexible, open test architecture
2. Eliminate programming of common test executive tasks
3. Enable reuse of existing test code
4. Simplify updates and long-term maintenance
5. Accelerate test system development
6. Ensure high test system performance
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Components of an Automated Test System
NI LabVIEW LabWindows™/CVI Other Software
Measurement Studio, Visual
Studio.NET™, …
RF Measurements Bus Interfaces (GPIB/LXI/Serial)
Signal Generation PC or Embedded Controller
Switching PXI Chassis
Fixturing/
Mass Interconnects
SO
FT
WA
RE
H
AR
DW
AR
E
Test Development Software
NI TestStand Test Management, Test Deployment
IVI, VISA, NI-DAQ, NI-DMM, NI-SCOPE, NI-FGEN, NI-HSDIO, …
Test Management Software
Drivers, Services, Hardware Abstraction
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Role of Test Management Software
Operations different for
each device tested:
Operations repeated for
each device tested:
Test System Components:
• Calibration
• Configuring instruments
• Data acquisition
• Measurements
• Analyzing results
• Test strategies
• Operator interfaces
• User management
• Unit Under Test (UUT) tracking
• Test flow control
• Archiving results
• Test reports
Test
Management
Software
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NI TestStand – Test Management Software
• Graphical development
environment
• Automate tests written in
any language
• Multithreaded sequence
execution
• ASCII, HTML/Web, XML,
and ATML report
generation
• Access, Oracle,
SQL Server database
connectivity
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NI TestStand – Test Management Software
• Full Featured and Simple User Interfaces are provided in NI
LabVIEW, NI LabWindows™/CVI, C#, C++, and VB.NET
• TestStand Deployment Utility builds a simple installer with
necessary dependencies
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TestStand Adoption
• Since releasing in 1999: • Over 50,000 TestStand deployments • Over 20,000 TestStand development licenses
• Cross-industry adoption TestStand Customers
• Lockhead Martin (Mil/Aero)
• Flextronics (Electronics Mfg)
• Texas Instruments (Semiconductors)
• Cochlear (Healthcare)
• Askey (Consumer Electronics)
• Visteon (Automotive)
• CIMTEK (Automotive)
• Alstom (Transportation)
• G Systems (Semiconductors)
• Anoto AB (Imaging Equipment)
• Tektronix (Instrumentation)
• Harris (Communications)
• STMicroelectronics (Semiconductor)
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NI TestStand Sequence Editor
• Create
• Edit
• Manage
• Execute
• Debug
• View reports
• Deploy
• Create user
profiles
• Customize
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Double-click or drag/drop to add steps to your file
• Code module steps
• Pass/Fail Test
• Numeric Limit Test
• Multiple Numeric Limit Test
• String Value Test
• Action Step
• Flow control steps
• Message Popup step
• Synchronization
Sequence Editor – Insertion Palette
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• Steps are placed inside sequences
• Sequences contain 3 groups:
• Setup
• Main
• Cleanup
• TestStand can call tests written in many different development environments
• Programmatically determine execution order with flow control steps
Sequence Editor – Steps Pane
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Sequence Editor – Sequences Pane
• To run a test program, you execute sequences
• Sequences contain a group of related tests (aka Steps)
• Sequence files can contain a number of sequences, each with their own list of steps
• MainSequence is the “top-level” sequence
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Sequence Editor – Step Settings – Module Tab
• Module tab automatically populates with parameters and functions of code module
• LabVIEW code module steps populate with VI icon and documentation
• Easily step into LabVIEW or LabWindows/CVI code with Edit button
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Sequence Editor – Single Pass vs. Test UUTs
• Single Pass
– Executes test sequence once
– Often used during test
development
• Test UUTs
– Sequentially loops through
test sequence until stopped
– Often used for production as
units roll off of assembly line
– Shows serial number dialog
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Run-Time User Interfaces
• Ideal for use in production
environments or for simple
development scenarios
• Customize the user interface
to only show essential
information for operators
• User management
• Supports Localization
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Sequential vs. Parallel vs. Auto-scheduled
Execution
• Simple 1 UUT test fixture
• Extremely simple code structure
• 12 time blocks for 4 units
• Multiple UUTs in parallel
• Switching allows hardware to be shared
• ~30–60% decrease in testing time
• Same HW setup as above
• TestStand auto-schedules resources
• ~15–20% further decrease in testing time
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With TestStand 2013, you will experience…
• Simplified deployment management
• Increased available system memory and
overall stability
• Improved integration with LabVIEW and
Microsoft Visual Studio
• Enhanced sequence editor to speed up
development
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Managing Deployed Test System Software
User Code Application Software Drivers
• LabVIEW,
TestStand, CVI,
etc
• Associated Run-
time engines for
above SW
• NI-DAQmx, NI-
SCOPE, NI-
VISA, etc
• Associated Run-
time engines for
above drivers
• User built VIs,
EXEs, DLLs,
assemblies, etc
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The Problem
• Eventually, deployed systems will need an upgrade
• New product models
• Optimized test code
• New test hardware
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Test Software Deployment Strategies
• Manual copying of files and driver installers
• Easy for small deployments
• Not scalable
• Disk imaging
• Easy restore state
• Difficult to upgrade
• Building installers
• User can optionally install
specific components
• Versioning simplifies
deployment management
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TestStand Deployment Utility
• Builds a single installer with:
• Sequence files
• Configuration files
• Source code/DLLs/EXEs
• NI HW drivers and NI SW RTEs
• Automatically includes static
dependencies
• Can run 3rd party installers using
custom commands
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Installer Deployment – Single Installer Approach
Development System
TestStand Engine
Run-time Engines
Drivers
Test Code
TestStand
Cfg
Custom
Result
Processing
User Interfaces
Deployment System
Deployment System
Deployment System
Single
Large
Installer
1.0
1.1
1.2
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Installer Deployment – Multiple Installer Approach
Development System
TestStand Engine
Run-time Engines
Drivers
Test Code
TestStand
Cfg
Custom
Result
Processing
User Interfaces
Deployment System
Deployment System
Deployment System
Small
code-only
Installer 1.0
1.1
1.2
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Installer Deployment – Patch Installer Approach
Development System
TestStand Engine
Run-time Engines
Drivers
Test Code
TestStand
Cfg
Custom
Result
Processing
User Interfaces
Deployment System
Deployment System
Deployment System Small
patch
Installers
1.0
1.1
1.2
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New in TestStand 2013: Patchable Deployments
• Automatically includes only
new or changed files
• Only 6 MB of patch overhead
• Provides patching for both
user applications and NI
software
• Allows for multiple cumulative
patches on a single
deployment
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Increased Available System Memory
• Large Address Aware support
• EXE flag that gives TestStand access to
o 3 GB RAM on a 32-bit OS
o 4 GB RAM on a 64-bit OS
• Increased stability for memory
intensive applications
• Load more sequences, test
code, arrays, reports, etc.
without running out of memory
• Enabled by default in TestStand
2013 UIs and Sequence Editor
• TestStand 2010 and later user
interfaces also support this flag
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Continued Focus on System Stability
• Reduce number of minor defects/deficiencies
• Focused effort to significantly reduce minor usability issues
• Expanded test cases and benchmarks
o Real-world user applications
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Evaluate NI TestStand for Free Today
…or visit ni.com/teststand
• ni.com/ideas
• ni.com/teststand/whatsnew
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The NI TestStand Ecosystem
1000+ companies worldwide
10000+ existing developers
20+ partner products
1200+ new developers trained annually
40+ worldwide branches providing support
10+ programming languages supported
100+ consultants and integrators
2 levels of development certification
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National Instruments Services and Support
• Technical Support
• Web support resources
• Application engineers worldwide
• Premier support
• Instructor-Led and Online Training
• NI TestStand 1 – Test Development
• NI TestStand 2 – Framework Development
• Thousands of engineers trained each year
• Certification
• Certified TestStand Developer (CTD)
• Certified TestStand Architect (CTA)
ni.com/services