Ruggedized COTS field testers are an attractive and economic alternative

While COTS test systems are becoming more widely used in depot and second-level test sets, field-level COTS testers are beginning to gain acceptance by military customers and OEM suppliers. Ruggedized lightweight housings with general purpose COTS cards and backplanes are now serving roles once reserved exclusively for custom dedicated designs. COTS PXI instrument-on-a-card manufacturers are learning how to migrate commercial designs to meet the challenges of flight line testing. These ruggedized COTS testers, offering a wide range of capabilities, are more easily upgradeable and reconfigurable than their dedicated counterparts. They also cost substantially less, making them a technically attractive and economic alternative