Development Of LXI Integrated Serial Communication Adapter

Auto test equipment (ATE), includes instrument resources (IS) and dedicated testunit adapter (TUA). Tested signal is conditioned and distributed in TUA, thentransferred to the IS. Current universal ATE’s IS is generic, but TUA is dedicated. Withthe species of tested signal increasing, the number of types of TUA rapidly expands,eventually leading ATE systems bulky.Based on this, propose a reconfigurable solution that a variety of serialcommunication will share interface pins, pin functions can be assigned to equipmentresources through dynamic configuration software, ultimately cancelling TUA torealize the ATE truly "universal."On hardware design, the modular design the LXI standardized interface, includingthe main processor module, network interface, IEEE1588clock circuit. Oncommunication part, integration of16channels of RS-422,4channels of RS-485,4channels of RS-232,2channels of ARINC429,1channel CAN hardware circuit. Allinterface logic is integrated inside the FPGA, effectively reduce the size of the systemand improve the reliability. On interface part, using the pin sharing solution thatconnect different serial communication circuit input and ouput pins to the sameexternal pins. Realize different function by software configuration. Achieving thesystem reconstruction, is no longer needed TUA to allocate resources, to achieveuniversal ATE.On software design, have achieved LAN discovery function,1588clocksynchronization function and LXI trigger extension function. On aspect of DSPprogramming, using DSP/BIOS multithreaded scheduling function to complete allcommunication parameter configuration and data transmission functions. To ensure thereliability of the sigle communication function and reconstruction of the differentfunctions of the line by studying data management mechanisms. On system webdesign, using JavaScript technology to develop high availability web pages, achievingdynamic interaction and real-time data display. Also develops the PC drivers andLabwindows/CVI test panels, which has online configurate interface functionsaccording to different testing requirements.Finally test the integrated serial communications and LXI interface, and conductonline switch with the Web interface and CVI panel. The final results shows that thetheoretical analysis module design and working properly, Achieving the purpose ofreconfigurable communication functions, and meeting the design requirements.