NI Connect 2023

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Agenda

Aerospace & Defense

Session	Abstract	Recording
Solving Test Challenges for Satellite Avionics and Power Electronics	Engineering teams building the next generation of satellites must be able to design, test, and integrate them quickly and efficiently to minimize the risk of failure while meeting accelerated market windows. In addition, teams need to satisfy each subsystem’s technical requirements while correlating data across the subsystems to ensure successful integration. In this session, we’ll address the test challenges associated with testing satellite avionics and power electronics subsystems and how to use NI’s leading test capabilities to shorten your time to market.
Characterizing Digital TRMs and ESA Systems	With the move towards electronically scanned array (ESA) technology, the number of electronic components, such as power amplifiers (PAs) and transmit receive modules (TRMs), in a radar system has increased exponentially. For these components, pulsed RF signals save power and provide better range detection. To address the growing demand for pulsed RF measurements on an ESA system, we’re introducing the ESA Characterization Reference Architecture to provide a high-level starting point for characterization and test engineers. In this session, learn how our latest Pulsed RF Measurement Library works with PXI VSTs, SMUs, and other external components to provide pulse RF measurements of power-added efficiency, pulse profile and stability, and S-parameters on digital TRMs.
Validating Satellite Data Links with HIL and SLE	With the growing demand for global satellite communication in commercial business and defense applications, testing and validating satellite components, subsystems, and data links have become increasingly important. However, this process presents many challenges, including the need for accurate simulation and performance data, the complexity of operating scenarios, the dynamism of the satellite channel, and the high cost of testing solutions. Testing satellite communication data links requires a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) approach. This session will cover how a satellite link emulator (SLE) can address the challenges of data link validation.
Simulation Platform for eVTOL Integrated Test Labs	Archer Aviation specializes in the integration of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles. The laboratory system integration testing of eVTOL vehicles has multiple critical requirements, such as model simulation, signal monitoring, fault injection, real/sim switching, and communication buses. Platform selection is crucial to meet these requirements, and important factors include lead times, cost, and familiarity. NI’s Switch Load and Signal Conditioning (SLSC) integration is critical for Archer’s chosen system design and offers routing and faulting, real/sim switching, VDT simulation, and digital output simulation. In this session, learn how Tech180 Breakout Panels provide physical interfaces to support SLSC integration and how the Distributed Simulation Architecture (DSA) enables a scalable and efficient distributed simulation system.
Rocket Testing: A Case Study in Distributed Control Architectures	Managing distributed, deterministic control systems is essential to many applications, but it’s critical for fire testing a rocket engine during a space launch vehicle. In this session, we’ll use rocket testing as a case study to explore the decisions a system architect must make to build a reliable distributed control and measurement system. We’ll discuss determinism in hardware and software, compare various technologies, and talk to engineers about how they meet these challenges when testing rocket engines.
Covering the Full Radar Test Spectrum: From Digital to Analog and Component to System	Modern radar systems are employing digital technology far and wide to enable agile/dynamic modes of operation that bring new capabilities to operators. Meanwhile, designers seek to expand sensing capabilities to operate in increasingly congested and contested EM battlespaces. In this session, we’ll explore these and other defense radar industry trends and share how NI supports radar system designers across the radar test spectrum: from digital to analog and component to full system. This session includes a live demo of our Radar Target Generation system test capability built on NI’s PXI Vector Signal Transceiver.
Hensoldt's Data Aggregation and Information Mining (DAIM): Manage data and enable data driven decision making in complex maintenance and production environments	This session explores how data aggregation and information mining, or DAIM, can serve as a commercial solution for the data management of current and legacy test systems in aerospace and defense. In addition, learn how DAIM supports data analysis and security throughout the product lifecycle.
Transform Wireless System Design with MathWorks® MATLAB® and NI	Wireless communication, radar systems, and software defined radio (SDR) are highly intricate technologies that require advanced mathematical and computational techniques for their design, simulation, and implementation. Engineers and researchers can use software and hardware tools from MathWorks and NI to facilitate these techniques to enable characterization, design, simulation, and testing and for prototyping real-world systems for over-the-air testing. These tools, based on flexible COTS systems, allow for the development and real-time testing of signals, including 5G and LTE communications, FMCW and pulse radar, multichannel beamforming and direction finding, narrow-band bursty waveforms like Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), and even the characterization of power amplifiers used for digital predistortion (DPD). Integrating MathWorks’ mathematical modeling, simulation, code generation, and hardware connectivity capabilities with NI’s instrumentation and SDR expertise ensures engineers can test systems effectively in challenging real-world scenarios. Learn how this combination of proficiency results in a comprehensive and efficient workflow for engineers and researchers across multiple domains, providing a streamlined design and implementation process without the need for extensive knowledge of the underlying hardware.
Multichannel RF Data Recording and Analysis	In systems integration labs (SILs), test chambers, and open-air range testing, multichannel RF recording and monitoring systems acquire, aggregate, and process data to validate electromagnetic systems, including radar, electronic warfare, and data links. Validation engineers and SIL managers must ensure tight synchronization across multiple channels and guarantee that data isn’t dropped. In this session, we’ll introduce a new reference architecture from NI that provides wideband, multichannel RF recording, time synchronization, 100 GbE streaming to disk, and real-time and offline analysis. In addition, we’ll discuss various aspects of system-level RF calibration, including multichannel wideband phase calibration, LO power calibration, and amplitude calibration. We’ll also discuss technology and architecture enabling data movement and storage.
Continuous Integration with LabVIEW and TestStand	In this session, Thales will introduce the concept of continuous integration (CI) in software development and discuss our implementation, including benefits and lessons learned. We’ll also cover the software framework required to implement a CI pipeline and the NI toolset used to automatically conduct static analysis, build trials and execute LabVIEW and TestStand code, and update requirement status. This session includes a working demonstration of the CI pipeline in action and the results dashboard it creates.

Automotive

Session	Abstract	Recording
Modernize and Liberate Your Battery Validation Lab	The challenges of designing and managing a modern EV battery lab are immense and require careful planning and execution to maximize overall operational efficiency. In this session, we’ll go over what you need in terms of hardware, software, resources, and facilities to set up your EV lab for long-term success while avoiding unnecessary disruptions and costs. In addition, you’ll learn how NI can help you plan to run or modernize your battery lab and deliver solutions that help you get to market faster and keep your engineering resources focused on testing to make better batteries.
More Motors? No Problem. Future-Proofing Your Test Systems in an Evolving Electrification Landscape	The traction inverter is the core of an electric vehicle; it’s responsible for maximizing the energy output from the battery to the motor safely, reliably, and as efficiently as possible. The industry is trending towards earlier testing in the development lifecycle, emphasizing hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing of the traction inverter ECU. However, as EV technology evolves, test engineers face growing challenges in future-proofing their testbeds for the next generation of EV powertrains. In this session, we’ll discuss trends in EV powertrains, including multimotor powertrains and newer motor types such as electrically excited synchronous machines (EESMs). We’ll also focus on the latest investments made by NI and our partner, OPAL-RT, to keep up with the evolving electrification technology landscape, ensuring engineers can test earlier and more confidently in the traction inverter development lifecycle.
ADAS/AD Workflow Evolution: Advancements in Data-Driven Software Validation	Replacing the human driver promises more productivity, comfort, and safety. However, uneasiness remains as failure risks lives and reputations. This complex challenge requires testing against infinite real-world scenarios that you need to master, where collaboration and a connected workflow are crucial to progress toward the higher levels of vehicle automation the world is expecting. In this session, we’ll focus on the importance of connecting test data and test methodologies through the in-vehicle data record, replay, and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) test. We’ll also investigate the latest in simulation and direct image injection techniques, plus latency considerations. In this session, Martin Zmrhal and Vit Neruda, tooling managers at Valeo, a top Tier 1 supplier, share how NI’s open, data-driven, and software-connected architecture helps you keep pace with the growing demands of an evolving industry. They’ll present their progress across the different ADAS/AD architectures implemented and explain how reusing skillsets, software, and hardware helps them tackle their current endeavors and prepares them for future challenges, like virtual validation.
No Sensors, No Perception—Let’s Test Them Properly!	Sensors for ADAS and autonomous driving are the eyes and ears to the overall perception of automated vehicles, and they need to be tested thoroughly in validation and manufacturing. In this session, we’ll focus on the latest in production test and investigate two key sensor modalities: radar and camera. You’ll learn how NI and its partners optimize the test feature set to improve sensor bring-up, cycle time, and test throughput while maximizing quality (first pass yield) and minimizing test cost. Plus, you’ll learn about the latest advancements in instrument-level calibration to enhance the precision and accuracy of your test system, leading to better performance of your sensors under test.
What Does Left Shifting Test Mean in the NI Ecosystem?	The last couple of years have brought significant changes and new challenges for the automotive industry. Even before the global pandemic, OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers faced not one but two once-in-a-generation shifts in technology: the introduction of autonomous vehicles and the adoption of electronic drive trains. These shifts continue to accelerate. With short technology cycles for electronics and even shorter cycles for software, our customers are applying new approaches to design, validation, and test, using data and simulation, and investing in toolchains that will scale and adapt to new technology. In this session, we’ll look at the flexible architecture of the xMOVE platform, which customers can reconfigure to meet their needs and stay one step ahead as new exigencies arrive.
Optimizing Manufacturing Test Strategies for the Automotive E/E Architecture Evolution	The unprecedented revolution in the automotive industry demands higher quality standards and reliable products due to new regulations related to autonomous mobility and electric vehicles. Electrical/Electronic (E/E) architectures inside vehicles are evolving to comply with new standards. In addition to increased quality and reliability expectations, test departments must continue to maximize operational efficiency and predictability for high-volume product lines while navigating the supply chain challenges of test system and component suppliers. To overcome these obstacles, your team must devote more time to the product test plan and associated KPIs and less time to the internal workings of the tester. In this session, you’ll learn how best-in-class companies partner with NI to optimize test strategies for quality, reliability, and volume through standardization initiatives based on a flexible test platform.