PXI based flight-line test sets

In the past decade, PXI has proven to be a powerful and robust standard that is suitable for most Mil-Aero test applications. PXI-based testers are widely used today in engineering test stations, as production acceptance testers, environmental stress screening testers, as well as full-fledged Intermediate-Level and Depot-Level testers. While the above facts are widely known, a lesser known fact is the success of PXI in field and flight-line test applications. Most engineers are not aware of the ruggedness of the PXI platform and as a result, PXI is sometimes overlooked when new portable and rugged test solutions are sought. PXI was designed as a rugged standard and while most test applications do not take advantage of these capabilities (as they are not required), it is very simple to achieve reliable performance under harsh environments. This paper discusses several flight-line and back-shop test applications based on Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) PXI products. The applications include a Field Test Set for the Maverick missile system, a back-shop test set for the alternate mission equipment (AME) for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), a back-shop armament test set for the TA-50 and FA-50 aircraft, and a portable test set for the C-130. These four testers are all based on an ultra-rugged COTS PXI platform that have been successfully deployed since 2004 and have demonstrated their ability to operate reliably in any operational theater. The four testers demonstrate PXI´s viability as an ultra-rugged field and flight-line platform that has the capabilities where only custom electronics or MIL-SPEC VME products were capable of surviving before.