A distributed virtual network instrument measurement system and method

Abstract

The present invention relates to a distributed virtual network instrument measurement system and method, comprising a host computer, a concentrator, and multiple mobile measurement terminals. The host computer is connected to each mobile measurement terminal via the concentrator. The mobile measurement terminal includes a controller, a radio frequency unit, a main circuit, multiple measurement channels, multiple measurement condition generation units, and multiple sampling units. One end of the main circuit is respectively connected to each sampling unit, each measurement channel, and each measurement condition generation unit. A first relay is provided between each measurement condition generation unit and the main circuit, and a second relay is provided between each measurement condition generation unit and the main circuit. The first relay and the second relay are both connected to the controller, and the radio frequency unit is connected to the controller. Compared with the prior art, the present invention designs mobile measurement terminals that can be distributed at various locations. Deployment in a distributed manner improves the efficiency and flexibility of large-scale measurements.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a network testing system, and in particular to a distributed virtual network instrument measurement system and method. Background Art

[0002] Whether in rail transit equipment production or on-site rail transit construction, cables and wire harnesses, as the fundamental medium for signal transmission, involve extensive installation, assembly, measurement, testing, and sequencing. Furthermore, during system operation and maintenance, various cable failures are often the most common of all common faults. This phenomenon is primarily due to the following reasons. First, the sheer number of wire harnesses creates a significant workload. Considering a cabinet as a relatively independent functional unit, the number of harnesses can range from dozens to hundreds or even thousands. This workload is immense, especially when mixed wires are involved, requiring even more measurement. In reality, 100% measurement is rarely achieved, and systems often undergo one, two, or even three wiring runs before commissioning. Second, these "rough tasks" themselves require minimal technical expertise due to the low availability of specialized measurement and testing equipment. Professional measurement and testing equipment is rarely available, and even those that are developed in-house are often rudimentary, leading to significant issues with system maturity and reusability. Therefore, whether it is from the quality management of manufacturers or the daily maintenance management of operation and maintenance companies, the automated measurement and scientific management of wire harnesses still remain in a relatively primitive stage. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The purpose of the present invention is to provide a distributed virtual network instrument measurement system and method, which designs mobile measurement terminals that can be distributed in various locations and deployed in a distributed manner to improve the efficiency and flexibility of large-scale measurements.

[0004] The purpose of the present invention can be achieved by the following technical solutions:

[0005] A distributed virtual network instrument measurement system includes a host computer, a concentrator, and multiple mobile measurement terminals. The host computer is connected to each mobile measurement terminal via the concentrator. The mobile measurement terminal includes a controller, a radio frequency unit, a main circuit, multiple measurement channels, multiple measurement condition generation units, and multiple sampling units. One end of the main circuit is respectively connected to each sampling unit, each measurement channel, and each measurement condition generation unit. A first relay is provided between each measurement condition generation unit and the main circuit. A second relay is provided between each measurement condition generation unit and the main circuit. The first relay and the second relay are both connected to the controller. The radio frequency unit is connected to the controller.

[0006] The types of the measurement condition generating unit include at least a voltage condition generator, a waveform generator and a pulse generator.

[0007] The types of sampling units include at least voltage and current sampling units, waveform sampling units and pulse sampling units.

[0008] The first relay and the second relay are both solid-state relays.

[0009] The first relay and the second relay are both electromagnetic relays.

[0010] The mobile measurement terminal further includes a power supply and ground sharing unit.

[0011] The measuring system further comprises an interface adapting unit, and the instrument measuring system is connected to the object to be measured via the interface adapting unit.

[0012] The host computer is a computer.

[0013] A measurement method of the measurement system as described above, comprising:

[0014] Step S1: Each mobile measurement terminal continuously monitors the control instructions of the host computer through the radio frequency unit, and closes the corresponding first relay and second relay based on the control instructions after receiving the control instructions from the host computer;

[0015] Step S2: The corresponding condition generation unit of the mobile measurement terminal working on condition generation and transmission executes condition generation;

[0016] Step S3: The corresponding sampling unit of the mobile measurement terminal working for receiving and measuring performs data sampling and obtains measurement results and sends them to the host computer.

[0017] In step S3, if the mobile measurement terminal working for receiving and measuring is known but the measurement channel is unknown, the mobile measurement terminal working for receiving and measuring traverses all measurement channels and measures again if the conditions are met;

[0018] If the mobile measurement terminal working for receiving and measuring is unknown, all other mobile measurement terminals in the network, except for the mobile measurement terminal working for condition generation and sending, are turned on and in a listening state. After receiving the information, they perform interrupt processing and report it to the host computer, which informs other mobile measurement terminals in a broadcast manner.

[0019] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0020] 1) A mobile measurement terminal is designed, which can be distributed in various locations. The distributed deployment improves the efficiency and flexibility of large-scale measurement.

[0021] 2) The mobile measurement terminal realizes multi-channel program-controlled automatic selection and switching, which is very suitable for multi-channel, multi-node, and large-capacity testing scenarios, such as cable sequencing, wiring measurement, mixed line testing, etc., while traditional instruments are mostly only suitable for single-channel measurement.

[0022] 3) The generation and sending of test conditions can be separated from the reception and measurement. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0023] Figure 1 It is a structural schematic diagram of the present invention;

[0024] Figure 2 It is a structural diagram of the mobile measurement terminal;

[0025] Among them: 1. Mobile measurement terminal, 2. Concentrator, 3. Host computer, 13. Controller, 14. Power supply and common ground unit, 15. Radio frequency unit, 16. Main circuit, 17. Relay control unit, 111. Voltage condition generator, 112. Waveform generator, 113. Pulse generator, 114. Other measurement condition generation units, 121. Voltage and current sampling unit, 122. Waveform sampling unit, 123. Pulse sampling unit, 124. Other sampling units. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] The present invention is described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. This embodiment is implemented based on the technical solution of the present invention, and provides a detailed implementation method and specific operation process, but the protection scope of the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments.

[0027] With the rapid development of new technologies and the rise of intelligent manufacturing in recent years, social and technological conditions are also gradually improving. This application proposes a relatively mature distributed virtual network instrument measurement system and its method based on low-power wireless transmission technology, low-power SOC technology, virtual instrument technology, and automated measurement technology. Although this method is proposed based on the measurement scenario of cable harnesses, it is also suitable for other application scenarios and can even replace the application functions of current conventional instruments.

[0028] A distributed virtual network instrument measurement system, such as Figure 1 As shown, it includes a host computer 3, a concentrator 2 and multiple mobile measurement terminals 1. The host computer 3 is a computer that is equipped with and runs virtual network instrumentation test software and distributed device management software. The host computer 3 is connected to each mobile measurement terminal 1 through the concentrator 2. Each test terminal is distributed in different physical spaces and is connected to the host computer 3 through a wireless channel to realize distributed condition sending, measurement, scheduling and receiving of measurement resources, and the delegation of test and measurement work and the front-end collection and processing of measurement tasks. Figure 2As shown, unlike a general multimeter, the mobile measuring terminal 1 includes a controller 13, a radio frequency unit 15, a main circuit 16, multiple measurement channels, multiple measurement condition generating units, and multiple sampling units, wherein the controller 13 is implemented by a conventional MCU, the radio frequency module can be a conventional WiFi module, one end of the main circuit 16 is respectively connected to each sampling unit, each measurement channel, and each measurement condition generating unit, a first relay is provided between each measurement condition generating unit and the main circuit 16, a second relay is provided between each measurement condition generating unit and the main circuit 16, the first relay and the second relay are both connected to the controller 13, and the radio frequency unit 15 is connected to the controller 13.

[0029] The types of measurement condition generation units include at least a voltage condition generator 111 , a waveform generator 112 and a pulse generator 113 , and the types of sampling units include at least a voltage and current sampling unit 121 , a waveform sampling unit 122 and a pulse sampling unit 123 .

[0030] The first relay and the second relay are both solid-state relays. In other embodiments, the first relay and the second relay are both electromagnetic relays. The control terminals of the first relay and the second relay are integrated into a relay control unit 17, which is used to implement program-controlled channel switching and automatically match the transmit and receive channels according to system instructions. The measurement function mainly collects signals, such as voltage, pulse or waveform, IO quantity, etc. During measurement, the generation of test conditions, sending and receiving sampling measurements are usually not in the same terminal unit.

[0031] The mobile measurement terminal 1 also includes a power supply and common ground unit 14. Since the test condition generation and functional measurement are not within the same equipment unit, common ground processing is an indispensable part. The system supports four common ground modes: channel ground, equal line length common ground, cabinet common ground, and earth ground. The MCU is responsible for executing and processing the mobile local measurement results, scheduling and managing resources, sending and receiving remote commands, and implementing the protocol.

[0032] The measurement system also includes an interface adapter unit, which connects the instrument measurement system to the measured object. Considering the system's reusability, the design of the mobile measurement terminal 1 is based on a standard product. However, in actual applications, specific scenarios or complex interfaces are often involved. Therefore, the final connection to the measured object generally involves an interface adapter unit. This unit is mainly provided by various physical connections and converters or adapters.

[0033] Virtual Network Instrument Test Software: This section is responsible for generating test sequences and logic, generating and sending test instructions, processing test results, and displaying process data and results in real time. For example, the continuity, impedance, or mixed-line conditions of a test harness can be imported into the test system using a pre-prepared standard configuration template EXEL table. The system coordinates the configured test terminals through a distributed network and determines whether to enable the conditional generation function connected to the cable end or the test sampling function module. Simultaneously, the data obtained by the peer test is reported to the virtual network instrument test software, which then processes the received data. The platform implements test process status information and data processing, and generates test results and test reports. Another important technical detail is that the test software and test terminals can support both proprietary protocols and standard SCPI protocols. The standard protocol is compatible with NI test platforms and Keysight test platforms, and provides SDKs and APIs for easy integration into users' own automated measurement systems.

[0034] Distributed device management software: Test terminals, with the platform as the core, logically form a star-shaped distributed network. This software is responsible for managing the wireless access and operational status of mobile measurement terminals 1, supporting the service channel between the upper-layer virtual network instrumentation test software and mobile measurement terminals 1. Wireless access technologies include, but are not limited to, LoRa, NBIOT, 4G, 5G, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, ZigBee, Thread, and 433. Functional terminals with large gaps between test receive / transmit nodes can be equipped with NBIOT or 4G / 4G modules to achieve wider coverage of test objects. Device management software also enables remote control, scheduling, and management of underlying equipment.

[0035] The measurement method of the measurement system as described above includes:

[0036] Step S1: Each mobile measurement terminal 1 continuously monitors the control instructions of the host computer 3 through the radio frequency unit 15, and closes the corresponding first relay and second relay based on the control instructions after receiving the control instructions from the host computer 3;

[0037] Step S2: the corresponding condition generation unit of the mobile measurement terminal 1 working on condition generation and transmission executes condition generation;

[0038] Step S3: The corresponding sampling unit of the mobile measurement terminal 1 working for receiving and measuring performs data sampling and obtains measurement results and sends them to the host computer 3 .

[0039] In step S3, if the mobile measurement terminal 1 working for receiving and measuring is known but the measurement channel is unknown, the mobile measurement terminal 1 working for receiving and measuring traverses all measurement channels and measures again if the conditions are met;

[0040] If the mobile measurement terminal 1 working for receiving and measuring is unknown, then all other mobile measurement terminals 1 in the network, except for the mobile measurement terminal 1 working for condition generation and sending, are turned on and in a listening state. After receiving the information, they perform interrupt processing and report it to the host computer 3, which informs the other mobile measurement terminals 1 in a broadcast manner.

[0041] Specifically, the mobile measurement terminal 1 has two basic working states: measurement condition occurrence - sending and receiving sampling and measurement. The host computer 3 determines when it is in which working state according to the measurement content. The mobile measurement terminal 1 receives remote control instructions through the wireless RF unit. When in the measurement condition occurrence - sending state, the relay control unit 17 selects the required test conditions according to the measurement sequence sent by the received measurement condition and the measurement item requirements, such as Figure 1 When the test voltage is medium, R1 closes. The measurement path is then programmatically switched and selected based on the measurement channel. For example, when the current measurement channel is 1, C1 closes. After the conditional output, the current and voltage values of this output are collected by the voltage and current sampling unit and wirelessly transmitted to the host computer 3.

[0042] During measurement, the mobile measurement terminal 1's conditional transmission and reception correspond to two separate units: one for generating and transmitting measurement conditions, and one for receiving and measuring. Within a network, different test condition generation-transmission and reception-measurement tasks can be executed in parallel. Tasks are delegated by the host computer 3 based on the test task and device status, and the host computer 3 coordinates the scheduling and management of measurement resources within the network.

[0043] After the measurement conditions are transmitted, if they are in a known state, the receiving-measuring unit opens the known measurement channel. If the current measurement is resistance, the MCU reads the data collected by the receiving end through the voltage and current acquisition unit and reports the data to the receiving-measuring end. The host computer 3 receives the voltage and current values of the condition generation-transmitting end and the receiving-measuring end, and calculates the resistance impedance of the intermediate connecting medium based on the voltage difference and current. If the receiving terminal does not know the receiving channel in advance, the MCU traverses all local channels and measures again when the conditions are met. If the reception is unpredictable, all mobile measurement terminals 1 in the network, except the condition generation-transmitting terminal, are turned on and put into a listening state. Once information is received, an interrupt is processed and reported to the host computer 3. The host computer 3 then broadcasts the information to other terminals, and the terminal changes to a low-power state.

[0044] Other test functions are similar, completing the scheduling and delegation of measurement tasks and their network resources, and receiving and controlling status changes of each node device in the system.

Claims

1. A measurement method for a distributed virtual network instrument measurement system, characterized in that: The measurement system includes a host computer, a concentrator, and multiple mobile measurement terminals. The host computer is connected to each mobile measurement terminal via the concentrator. The mobile measurement terminal includes a controller, a radio frequency unit, a main circuit, multiple measurement channels, multiple measurement condition generation units, and multiple sampling units. One end of the main circuit is respectively connected to each sampling unit, each measurement channel, and each measurement condition generation unit. A first relay is provided between each measurement condition generation unit and the main circuit, and a second relay is provided between each measurement channel and the main circuit. The first and second relays are both connected to the controller, and the radio frequency unit is connected to the controller. The measuring system further comprises an interface adapter unit, and the instrument measuring system is connected to the measured object via the interface adapter unit; The measuring method comprises: Step S1: Each mobile measurement terminal continuously monitors the control instructions of the host computer through the radio frequency unit, and closes the corresponding first relay and second relay based on the control instructions after receiving the control instructions from the host computer; Step S2: The corresponding condition generation unit of the mobile measurement terminal working on condition generation and transmission executes condition generation; Step S3: The corresponding sampling unit of the mobile measurement terminal working for receiving and measuring performs data sampling and obtains measurement results and sends them to the host computer.

2. The measuring method according to claim 1, wherein The types of the measurement condition generating unit include at least a voltage condition generator, a waveform generator and a pulse generator.

3. The measuring method according to claim 1, wherein The types of sampling units include at least voltage and current sampling units, waveform sampling units and pulse sampling units.

4. The measuring method according to claim 1, wherein The first relay and the second relay are both solid-state relays.

5. The measuring method according to claim 1, characterized in that The first relay and the second relay are both electromagnetic relays.

6. The measuring method according to claim 1, characterized in that The mobile measurement terminal further includes a power supply and ground sharing unit.

7. The measuring method according to claim 1, characterized in that The host computer is a computer.

8. The measurement method according to claim 1, characterized in that In step S3, if the mobile measurement terminal working for receiving and measuring is known but the measurement channel is unknown, the mobile measurement terminal working for receiving and measuring traverses all measurement channels and measures again if the conditions are met; If the mobile measurement terminal working for receiving and measuring is unknown, all other mobile measurement terminals in the network, except for the mobile measurement terminal working for condition generation and sending, are turned on and in a listening state. After receiving the information, they perform interrupt processing and report it to the host computer, which informs other mobile measurement terminals in a broadcast manner.

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