Mapping multiple legacy instruments and associated measurements into a single synthetic test environment

Modern test systems employ dynamically configurable synthetic instruments to meet the measurement requirements of legacy test systems. A synthetic instrument contains all of the hardware and software building blocks and components required to implement the functionality of multiple legacy instruments, as well as the associated measurements. This paper addresses the challenge of implementing multiple legacy instruments and arbitrating multiple legacy instrument calls within a single synthetic platform. The approach discussed has been successfully implemented and fielded in the Aeroflex SMART^E family of products. This paper starts with a discussion of the requirements associated with emulating legacy instruments within a synthetic test environment. The software architecture associated with this environment can successfully support function calls to legacy instruments. The software architecture description is then expanded to show how this single architecture also supports a signals and measurement based approach to synthetic instrument control. This approach ensures the most efficient use of the systempsilas hardware and software resources and allows the overall test environment to realize the full potential of a synthetic architecture. Some examples of both legacy instrument emulation and signals based control of a synthetic test environment are also presented.