Using LabVIEW and PXI to Develop a Performance Verification and Fault-Detection System for US Navy Submarines

Author(s):
Bob Hartwell - BCO

Industry:
Government/Defense

Products:
PXI/CompactPCI, LabWindows/CVI, LabVIEW

The Challenge:
Developing a small, rugged, and flexible performance verification and fault-detection system for US Navy submarine combat systems.

The Solution:
Using NI LabVIEW and LabWindows/CVI software and PXI hardware to deliver a reliable, fully-transportable transit-case configuration that fits through a submarine hatch aperture and offers the flexibility for open-ended product expansion.

Developing a Performance Monitoring and Fault-Detection System for Commercial Off-The-Shelf Technology
There is a widespread and expanding use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technology in combat systems to lower costs and deliver superior performance. The US Navy nonpropulsion electronic system for the Virginia class submarine makes widespread use of COTS technology to attain these benefits. However, the Navy anticipated a new class of logistical problems with this concept because these combat systems needed to include fault detection and performance verification capabilities, not only when installed initially but also when upgraded as a result of repair and replacement. Fault-detection systems typically include flexible technology, such as embedded software or hardware. At BCO, we needed to determine if specific modules would perform as expected when operating in the intended native standard commercial industrial bus, the Versa Module Euro (VME) environment. This small business innovative research (SBIR) project evaluated a hot box test solution with the flexibility to support the majority of existing COTS software and hardware in the current inventory with an initial target of six high-usage VME modules.

We developed a dual processing environment, with a native environment system (NES) and an independent stimulus and support (SMS) portion. The NES supports the VME devices in a self-contained “hot box,” containing target VME modules as either support or units under test roles. The SMS contains a PXI/SCXI configuration that provides a user interface and test software run-time execution. The SMS controls and monitors the NES with serial communication, as well as multiplexed signal processing through the PXI/SCXI resources.

Rapid Development and Coordination with NI Software
Using LabVIEW, we rapidly created and prototyped graphical user interfaces and reviewed active prototypes with the US Navy early in the development cycle. We also used LabVIEW to coordinate software and firmware running on multiple processors on varied platforms in real-time scenarios. We created a test execution engine using NI LabWindows/CVI software. With this test execution engine, users can log-on, select the test configuration, designate software test modules to be run, observe the tests, and generate test reports. This executive software also supports interprocess communications between our own test executive, our custom test modules, and vendor-supplied embedded self-test and interface utilities.

PXI Delivers a Small, Rugged, and Reliable Hardware Solution
We delivered a configuration that met the system’s flexibility requirements using an NI PXI-based system. We selected PXI because of the product’s small, rugged architecture, and it offers a large number of modules to satisfy potential requirements in the future. In addition, PXI delivered the proven reliability for the system to function for weeks or months while on a combat submarine. Finally, we needed a platform that would run our LabVIEW and LabWindows/CVI-based software, so PXI was the perfect fit.

For more information, contact:
Robert Hartwell
System Engineer
BCO, Inc.
799 Middlesex Turnpike
Billerica MA 01821
Phone: 978-663-2525
Fax: 978-670-2939
E-Mail: rhartwell@bco-inc.com

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