The test equipment industry has developed in sync with the defence and aerospace industry, and that is why it is considered such a vital cog of a nation’s defence structure.
By Baishakhi Dutta
Indian industry today is on the threshold of entering a new era in which it will assume greater responsibility in making the nation self-reliant in defence production. The resurgence of India’s manufacturing sector has been remarkable. Not only are the profits soaring, the sector is also making its presence felt abroad as many Indian firms are becoming transnational companies.
The Indian manufacturing sector is globally competitive with international standards of quality, efficiency and production facilities. India is fast developing into a manufacturing hub for world corporations that want to leverage proven skills in product design, reconfiguration and customisation with creativity, assured quality and value addition. The government is also keen to strengthen the local aerospace industry and has asked major weapons exporting countries to transfer technology to India.
The role of T&M in defence and aerospace
The aerospace and defence (A&D) industry is at the forefront of development, using cutting-edge technology for the country’s safety and survival. The A&D industry is a significant end-user for test and measurement (T&M) equipment, particularly the general purpose variety.
The electronics and technology used in this industry needs to be running at 100 per cent efficiency to ensure that the equipment doesn’t malfunction, operate sub-optimally or get damaged. This is where electronic test equipment enters the picture.
This is also why the test equipment industry has grown in prominence and developed in sync with the defence and aerospace industry. Technicians and engineers are highly respected and prized members in the Indian Navy, Army and Air Force. This is because of the responsibility they carry—to make sure all the electronic equipment used by the armed forces functions at the highest possible level. Governments around the world are looking to create smaller, more technologically capable military forces. And T&M will play a huge role in this transition.
“Aerospace and defence technology is streamlined for speed, and it meets strict quality and accuracy demands for projects that stand the test of time. Obsolescence management, evolving RF requirements, and design for test (DFT) challenges are some of the aspects that every test department in the aerospace and defence industry needs to address. Organisations are transitioning from rack-and-stack box instruments and closed-architecture automated test equipment (ATE) systems to smarter test systems built on a modular platform that scale to meet current and future needs.”
Raghunandan N.V., technical marketing engineer, National Instruments
Aerospace and defence testing requirements
The A&D industry has the toughest electronics testing requirements. Many factors must be taken into consideration when developing a test system for this sector. These include the characteristics of the device under test (DUT), test coverage, the resources available and the overall budget. An ideal test system for the A&D sector should be reliable, flexible and, most important, be able to withstand extreme conditions such as shock, vibration and wide operating temperature ranges. Finally, the system must also be future-proof.
Madhukar Tripathi, senior manager – sales and marketing, Anritsu India Pvt Ltd, says, “The role of T&M is very important in the A&D industry. The utmost safety of flights and passengers is possible due to good T&M used by the A&D industry. Any aircraft or communication system is well tested before it is commercially deployed in an aircraft. Apart from deployment in aircraft, T&M equipment are used in operations and maintenance. This helps in the safe landing of aircraft.” He adds, “Radio-navigation aids such as instrument landing systems (ILS) and VHF omni-directional range (VOR) systems help aircraft successfully take off and land by providing exact vertical and horizontal navigation guidance. The safety of crew and passengers alike is reliant, in part, on these systems precisely transmitting and receiving RF signals.”
In the A&D industry, test equipment must deliver the same level of technology found in other industries, offer the highest level of reliability plus address cost of ownership issues. Modular instrumentations like PXI, cPCI, VXI and LXI are specifically designed to address the special requirements of the A&D industry.
Raghunandan N.V., technical marketing engineer, National Instruments, says, “The A&D industry finds itself in increasingly challenging times. With increased spending globally, the industry is under pressure to ensure timely execution and the success of projects. Modern A&D electronic systems are entrusted with the key goals of protecting and equipping users in the best way possible and countering threats. These systems are also expected to be engineered within the constraints of a challenging economy. The need for T&M equipment and solutions to test these systems for reliability and mission-readiness cannot be overstated.”
He adds, “The use of IQ based waveform generation, wideband digitisers and synthesisers is commonplace in T&M products. Use of NI’s Executive THORsi ensures a stable environment from which to run software test programs tailored for specific LRU variants. THORsi allows individual tests to be edited and ordered and also provides cyclic run modes for intermittent fault capture. Results storage and print-out facilities are also provided. Digital and analogue interface cards complete the control and monitoring requirements via dedicated interface cables/adapters.”
“The aerospace and defence market is different from the consumer market. Mission critical communication is very important and is the basis of successful plan execution during peace and war time. A&D instruments must be able to operate in desert temperatures of 50°C and also be able to work in J&K, Leh, Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh where temperatures can go below zero. T&M equipment must be able to deliver good results under all these conditions, be it a highly humid or a very hot environment. Portable instruments must be lightweight and have enough power to operate in critical times.
Madhukar Tripathi, senior manager – sales and marketing, Anritsu India Pvt Ltd
New market trends impacting the test equipment market in A&D
Research efforts are increasing on the Millimeter Wave, with frequency ranges up from 30GHz for special purpose radars and IEEE 802.11, although the majority of the A&D community still focuses on lower frequencies. With the emergence of 5G, A&D applications are no longer the only ones pushing the requirements of signal and spectrum analysers. All these new applications will have a direct impact on bandwidth usage and frequency ranges.
“With the A&D market adopting new technologies, the concept of the Digital Army has become popular. Communication systems, laser guided missiles or other electronics weapon systems are developed using the right T&M devices. Future wars will be technology driven. New radar or communication systems are tested using Anritsu’s VNA Master. Anritsu’s S820E Site Master is used in ship communication systems maintenance,” says Tripathi.
There are also new trends and developments in the satellite segment. NewSpace is an emerging concept that is driving the development of low-cost private spacecrafts and smaller satellites.
There are significant opportunities for T&M vendors focused on risk and cost management in satellite development, compared to the potential in the traditional space. An increasing number of companies are focusing on the design of new commercial satellites. This is giving rise to a new test paradigm, which is focused on maintaining low costs and providing emerging opportunities to T&M vendors, with some level of risk associated with these.
“T&M vendors globally are turning to a software-centric ecosystem with reconfigurable and modular hardware platforms, with the objective to provide the A&D industry with the design-prototype-deploy-development chain. This approach to building test systems will help to ensure system stability, expandability, and deployment over longer periods of time. Another key trend being observed is the need for a higher bandwidth in the latest test instruments for testing modern radar and EW systems. Along with higher bandwidth comes the requirement for high processing power to perform critical inline computations during testing,” says Raghunandan of NI.
Cyber security will have a huge impact on the A&D community in the coming years and has started to gain a lot of attention globally. The current need is for test systems with a high level of flexibility to repel malicious attacks on secured networks.
Different T&M tests performed for A&D and their significance
As per Keysight sources, a number of tests are required to be performed for the smooth functioning of the A&D equipment. Some of the tests are listed below:
- Radar and electronic warfare (EW) testing: As technology evolves, so do the challenges faced in detection, avoidance, electronic warfare and countermeasures. In all cases, today’s systems will benefit from high-performance test equipment —analogue and vector signal generators, spectrum analysers, vector signal analysers, vector network analysers and more. From simulations of an arriving wavefront with multiple emitters to testing of precision components in a receiver, today’s T&M solutions are ready for the complexity of radar and EW test applications.
- Military communication testing: To meet present and future mission requirements, the countless unique radios of the past are giving way to compatible, multi-mode or software-defined digital systems that ensure easy interoperability. To keep pace, measurement solutions must be able to test these versatile radios throughout their lifecycles. From dynamic probing inside an FPGA to testing RF, IF and IQ; and from design simulation to operational troubleshooting, current T&M solutions can help you ensure system readiness.
- Satellite testing: Satellite testing presents unique challenges— from the satellite and its payload to the ground station terminal. Rigorous testing is necessary to ensure that the satellite works right the first time – there is no room for error. RF and microwave measurements must be as accurate as possible, from SSPA and TWTA components or LO and PLL sub-systems to complete satellite assembly, test and integration. Today, the advances in spectrum analysis, cutting-edge network analyser technology, and the wide range of signal generators and power meters available, ensure that the right tools exist to test your satellite system correctly.
- Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) testing: Ever-faster growth in the types of wireless technologies poses an escalating challenge for intelligence and homeland-security agencies. Whether the mission is to intercept and collect, detect and eradicate, monitor and track, or trend and analyse, the current diverse T&M technology base gives users an edge that increases the probability of earlier detection, assessment and response. The latest solutions for signals intelligence include signal, intercept and collection systems, frequency management tools and high-end test equipment for developers of signals intelligence systems.
- Avionics, guidance, navigation and GPS testing: Civil aviation and military operations alike depend on accurate distance, location and direction measuring systems for public safety and military mission success. VOR, ILS, DME and GPS/Galileo electronic systems are just a few of the areas that require unique test and measurement capabilities.
- ATE application testing: A customer’s test system architecture should offer choices. Its range of possibilities should fit your requirements, preferences and existing test assets —instrumentation, software and I/O — now, and in the future.
- Audio/video testing: Today’s military operations require transmission of a wide range of digital data, including position data, information from different sensors, current terrain data as well as still photographs and videos from mobile units such as helicopters and UAVs. As a result, the transmission of video data using COFDM and DVB-S2 is becoming more and more important. Today, commercial applications such as displaying outside pictures and auxiliary information on aircraft cockpit displays are also standard. Analogue methods such as those defined in STANAG 3350 are also still used.
- Operational testing: Returning a vehicle to service as soon as possible is crucial in operational-level support. Handheld and portable instruments accelerate troubleshooting at the O-level, and provide insights that help intermediate and depot-level teams quickly pinpoint defective modules and components.
The future of the T&M industry in India
India’s defence market is seeing rapid growth. The government’s ‘Make in India’ policy has generated a lot of interest across India Inc., and its members seek to cash in on the thrust given to indigenous manufacturing and foreign investments. As the market looks set to continue growing, original equipment manufacturers are being drawn to India from abroad, while domestic private sector companies also are stepping up operations to meet demand.
“The T&M industry plays a very integral role in the A&D sector and the demand for testing in this sector has been rising in the last couple of years,” says Manish Kwatra, CEO, Metro Electronics. He adds, “The government doesn’t have any option other than setting up a good defence budget, for A&D currently plays a pivotal role in India.”