Frequently Asked Questions for Custom Automated Test Systems

We certainly don’t claim to be able to solve all automated test problems.  Here’s a list of the primary services we provide:

• Test Equipment System Integration
• LabVIEW Consulting & Development
• Test Stand Design & Development
• Legacy Test System Migration (Replacing Obsolete Test Systems)
• NI Hardware Selection Services
• Test System Staff Augmentation
• Custom Manufacturing Test Equipment | End of Line Test Equipment Development
• Product Validation System Development
• Custom Electronics Design for NI Hardware-based Test Systems
• HIL Test System Development

We specialize in test system development in the following industries / niches:

• Aerospace and Defense
• Medical Device
• Electromechanical
• Electrical

See problems we solve for more detail.

• ICT / bed-of-nails test (except Custom Adapter Module Development for MAC Panel’s SCOUT)
• Companies with no facilities in the US
• University projects
• Test execution services. We aren’t a test lab.
• Any service under $5k

No problem.  Check out our Capabilities.

Yes.  See types of engagements, contract types, and supporting suppliers and Custom Automated Test Stands for more detail.

Yes. That’s totally fine with us. We deliver software-only all the time. In fact, we’ve delivered software-only test solutions over 1500 times.

Yes. We can help you all the way from gaining an understanding of your hardware needs, through BOM (Bill Of Materials) creation. We don’t even charge for this consultation. We simply ask that you purchase the equipment through us. Check out our NI Hardware Selection Services for more info.

The typical range for complete test systems (hardware & software) that we deliver falls between US$20k and US$700k. The typical range for software only test system development falls between US$10k and US$80k.

These ranges are admittedly large. Narrowing down on the cost requires understanding your situation. High-level decisions like those listed next have large effects on pricing.

1. Do you need a full turnkey tester or just software development?
2. Can all the hardware be purchased off-the-shelf (COTS) or do you need something custom like cabling/fixtures/PCBs?
3. Do you have equipment that we can use/reuse or is this a greenfield installation?
4. How much process do we need to follow, such as might or might not need detailed documentation at every step of a waterfall managed project?

Check out our pricing for custom automated test systems and LabVIEW programming for more detail.

Answering generically isn’t very useful, so let’s paint a picture for a few typical scenarios:

1. For a small system needing only a few measurements, development can typically take between 1-3 months.
2. For a medium system needing around 10 to 30 measurements, development can typically take between 2-6 months.
3. For a large system needing high 10s to 1000s of measurements, development can typically take between 4-8 months.

Note that the durations listed increase depending on a couple major elements:

• The numbers and types of measurements grow
• The complexity and quantity of the data acquisition hardware and instrumentation needed to make those measurements
• The quantity and types of test steps based on those measurements

At the extremes, some test systems only take a couple weeks while very large ones can take over one year. And, if the test system needs significant external hardware to put the unit under test into an environment other than the lab or factory, then support and/or construction of this equipment may add time to the project.

The typical process is:

1. You reach out for a consultation.
2. Check if an NDA if needed (Mutual NDA requested).
3. Check if ITAR or CUI involved.
4. During our sales call, we’ll start asking questions about your requirements and discuss options which can affect cost and schedule. .
5. We work on a proposal for discussion. We’ll iterate if needed to match constraints of budget and schedule.
6. Develop the test system.
7. Test the system at our facility.
8. Deliver to your facility and perform final testing of the system.
9. Support you and the system according to plan

Here’s the typical process we follow to supply you with your custom test equipment solution (variations apply based on needs):

1. Gather requirements & provide proposal (Timeframe: 1-6 weeks)
2. Design, develop, integrate & test the test system (Timeframe: 1-6 months)
3. Commission the test system (Timeframe: 1 day – 2 weeks)
4. Support after delivery (Timeframe: 12 months)

See our custom test equipment supplier process for more detail.

1. Aerospace / Defense,
2. Medical Device,
3. Industrial Equipment.

Given that we develop automated test systems, you might guess that we work in many industries, and you’re right.  We find that we’re most valuable in industries that manufacture complex, mission-critical assemblies.  Such items require some combination of multiple sensor types, many data acquisition channels, equipment and/or algorithms to place the part under the right conditions for testing, and a multi-step test procedure.

We sure do.  See here for our test system case studies.

Yes. The devil’s in the details of course.  For example, we don’t get into RF board design.  We focus mostly on boards requiring analog signal conditioning and deterministic I/O.  See our custom electronics for NI hardware page for more details.

We don’t (of course we have tested quite a few different types of products, so chances are we’ve seen something at least somewhat similar).  We know:

1. how to take good measurements,
2. how to write good test software,
3. how to select good test hardware,
4. and how to put it all together in a test stand.

You’re the expert at your product; we’re experts at developing test systems.  That’s where we come together.

Standards like UL and ASTM cover a lot of ground. For example, ASTM alone covers over 12,000 standards! The short answer: if you can provide us the document describing the UL or ASTM standard, it’s highly likely that we’ll be able to develop a test system to meet that standard. The same applies to other standards organizations too, like ASME, IEC, API, and so on. Of course, just like with any requirements, we’d like to see the specifics before we commit.

It’s also worth noting that, for some tests, there are COTS testers available that can perform the tests required by these standards. For example, hi-pot testing on medical devices according to IEC 61010-1 can be performed with specialized test equipment from various product manufacturers. We’re often asked to integrate a COTS tester into an automated test system. When it makes sense, we can do that too.

We do.  We augment the test engineering capabilities at many companies. We usually:

• do the majority of the project work remotely,
• with an initial on-site if needed to see the product or system,
• go on-site for test system commissioning,
• and then as needed for follow-up support.

Check out the staff augmentation page for more detail.

Both, as well as a combination of the two.  As you’d imagine, fixed bid projects require a more rigorous set of requirements, which sometimes can be challenging in a more R&D sort of environment, in which case T&M is often easier.

Yes.  There are scenarios where we utilize pre-developed code or hardware.  You’ll still get the information you’ll need to make updates and changes as you see fit, but your usage of those may be limited to use on your systems.  What we want to limit here is having one of our competitors go off and utilize our IP.  We want to use it to stay cost-competitive.

You’ll have a primary POC.  Then, depending on the size and timeline of the project, we add team members as needed.

Generally, $5,000 is a rough lower limit. We consider small jobs if we think there is a way for us to prove ourselves to you in the hopes that you will consider us as a partner on large projects. The best way to know is to chat with us about your immediate project and your future goals.

We do. As with any project, we’ll want some definition of the end goal so we can:

1. identify appropriate personnel and
2. estimate duration and scheduling.

Most of the work will be done remotely, with periodic tag-up conversations and/or an agile development style. We also recommend initial on-site visits to your facility and, if needed, we can finish the project delivery on-site to connect to physical hardware and systems.

Yes, we can. We’ve been successful in replacing 100s of obsolete hardware and systems.

We’ve identified 5 important considerations when embarking on an upgrade, from using “duct-tape” to hold off the upgrade a little longer, to preparing for possible differences in performance between old and new systems. Check out our test system migration services for more details.

Yes. The test system is designed and built according to appropriate design, development, and deployment processes. Being ISO 9001 certified readies us to either follow our process or yours. We have delivered test systems and the associated V&V documentation into industries that design and build:

• medical devices,
• aerospace products,
• military components,
• and space applications.

That depends. While we’re versed in traditional control scheme (such as PID loops), you might have a unique process that needs multiple and interacting PIDs, staging, rules-of-thumb, fuzzy logic, heuristics, and so on. If you can describe the control scheme algorithmically, we can develop it.

Also, it might be interesting to know that we can use real-time operating systems to provide as little as 10s of millisecond control loop responses and FPGAs to provide 10s of nanosecond loop rates.

Short answer: yes. The longer answer needs to respect that this question covers a very broad field, so we might be able to help, or we might not be a good fit, depending on your needs.

Where can we help? We have experience with pushing data into some MES systems, such as from:

• Infor,
• iBASEt,
• and home-brewed platforms.

Yes. We have experience with SQL and no-SQL databases in the design steps and interfacing methods.

If you are asking us to interface to one of your existing databased, as opposed to creating one from scratch, one major caveat is the amount of available documentation on the database schema. A common scenario occurs when we’re asked to store into or query from a database that was designed in-house, using an old version of an SQL database, with minimal and/or outdated documentation.

We also have had some interactions with NoSQL databases, such as Mongo, but the majority of our experience is with SQL databases, for example:

• Microsoft SQL (and many others via their EF Core),
• MySQL,
• and PostgreSQL.

Again, the variety of possibilities in database vendor, schema, and usage can make interfacing to an existing database range from almost trivial to extremely complicated, so reach out to us to discuss the details.

All of them. Not to be glib about it, but we’ve connected to devices via standard communications like GPIB, LXI, RS-232/RS-485 serial, Modbus (ASCII, serial and TCP), CAN, HART, PROFIBUS, basic Ethernet including TCP/IP and UDP. We’ve even supported proprietary comms via custom interfaces to FPGAs. Higher level comms like DeviceNET, OPC DA and UA, MQTT, and so on.

These comm protocols cover both existing legacy (but still good!) instruments as well as some of the new stuff. Ethernet-based comms are everywhere today.

Yes. The only challenge with multiple builds is the duration between the first and last test system. When years elapse between builds, parts in the original BOM (Bill Of Material) might be close to EOL (End of Life) or even obsolete.

When we build test systems, we look for two things in the selected parts:

1. long runways until EOL and
2. the part belongs to a family of similar parts,

thus minimizing the effort in building duplicate systems as well as support for any upgrade to existing test stands.

Yes. And don’t forget training for the operators. Our services here depend on your needs. We almost always create some (possibly minor) documentation to train the operators of the test stand. Our experience has been that engineers and techs only sometimes want formal training since they are usually familiar with the test stand before it’s delivered to them due to their ongoing involvement during the design and build. The long-term solution is to request that we create user and maintenance documents; it’s your choice, of course.

Stuff happens. We get it. Writing complete requirements is hard and time-consuming. And some of those requirements might  be incomplete or on the edge of feasible.

Our job at “phase zero” of the project, when we’re having initial conversations, is to minimize surprises that might appear during the project. This phase leads to a lot of questions about the technical details of the project and your business goals as well. Regardless of that effort, requirements might change mid-course, maybe hardware becomes more expensive than originally planned, your engineering point of contact moves on, or some other reasons.

When changes happen, we discuss with you to decide next steps. If changes are needed, we create a Change Order to amend the Purchase Order or Contract in delivery price, schedule, and deliverables. Either up or down. We try really hard to avoid Change Orders (hence a diligent “phase zero”), but stuff happens.

Yes we do. We prefer NI mainly because they do a great job integrating their hardware with development software, including LabVIEW (of course), Python, and other languages. But NI doesn’t make everything, and sometimes their hardware is not the best fit.

For example, we might recommend:

• an oscilloscope rather than one of NI’s digitizers because the use case calls for having a real-time display during operator setup.
• Or a rack mounted signal generator/amplifier with high voltage output is needed such as one from Trek or TEGAM.

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