Electromagnetic test system carrying robot and electromagnetic test method thereof

Abstract

The invention provides an electromagnetic test system carrying a robot and an electromagnetic test method thereof. For a robot with a controller integrated with a motion preprocessing mechanism, the motion preprocessing mechanism is a motion stack, when a plurality of positions are sent to the robot from an upper computer, the robot receives a first position and starts executing to the first position, and meanwhile, the robot continuously receives subsequent positions and stores the subsequent positions in the motion stack; after the robot arrives at the first position, the positions needing to be executed are sequentially taken out from the motion stack, and sequential execution is conducted; for a robot without an integrated motion preprocessing mechanism in a controller, after a control command is sent to the robot, the actual position of the robot is read circularly until the robot reaches a target position, then the next target position is sent, and the robot executes the operation in sequence according to the sequence that the upper computer sends the position command. According to the invention, high-speed continuous testing of the electromagnetic testing system carrying the robot can be realized, and the testing time can be saved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of electromagnetic testing, and in particular to an electromagnetic testing system equipped with a robot and an electromagnetic testing method thereof. Background Art

[0002] In recent years, industrial robots have developed rapidly and have been widely used in application scenarios such as handling, welding, and assembly. In the field of antenna testing, industrial robots are also creating a revolution. In 2011, scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the United States began to use industrial robots to innovate in the field of antenna testing to meet the challenges faced by antenna testing in the era of millimeter wave communications and millimeter wave radars. Compared with the antenna test system using a turntable scanning frame in the existing technology, the antenna test system equipped with a robot has higher flexibility. With the test instruments and accessories, it can realize the three-in-one functions of planar near field, spherical field, and cylindrical field. It has the characteristics of small footprint, low cost, strong flexibility, and strong maneuverability.

[0003] The Chinese patent authorization announcement number is "CN111521881B", and the name is "Antenna Test System", which provides an antenna test system, which includes: a base, a support rail laid on the base, two manipulators arranged at both ends of the support rail and movable along the support rail, a radio frequency test device electrically connected to the two manipulators, an optical positioning component electrically connected to the manipulator, and an absorbing component arranged between the two manipulators. The patent introduces a robot into the antenna test system to replace the previous scanning frame. The robot has higher flexibility. The robot can realize the three-in-one test of plane near field, cylindrical near field, and spherical near field. The antenna test system equipped with the robot has higher flexibility. However, this antenna test system cannot realize high-speed continuous testing. Summary of the invention

[0004] The purpose of the present application is to provide a robot-mounted electromagnetic testing system and an electromagnetic testing method thereof that can achieve high-speed continuous testing.

[0005] In a first aspect, the present application provides an electromagnetic testing system equipped with a robot, the electromagnetic testing system comprising a robot, a host computer, a device to be tested, a test probe, a vector network analyzer and a fixing frame for placing the device to be tested, the robot having a controller; The test probe is placed on the flange of the robot body, and the device to be tested is placed right in front of the antenna; The robot is driven and controlled by the host computer. The host computer can send a control code containing the target position to the robot. After receiving the control code containing the target position, the robot moves to the target position. The host computer is used for data transmission between the vector network analyzer and the robot controller; The vector network analyzer is responsible for collecting the amplitude and phase data of the near-field electromagnetic space through which the test probe passes; For robots with motion preprocessing mechanisms integrated in the controller, the motion preprocessing mechanism is a motion stack. When multiple positions are sent from the host computer to the robot, the robot receives the first position and starts to execute towards the first position, while continuously receiving subsequent positions and saving them in the motion stack. After the robot reaches the first position, it sequentially takes out the positions to be executed from the motion stack and executes them sequentially. For robots without integrated motion preprocessing mechanism in the controller, after sending a control command to the robot, the actual position of the robot is read in a loop until the robot reaches the target position, and then the next target position is sent. The robot executes in the order in which the position commands are sent by the host computer.

[0006] In a second aspect, the present application provides an electromagnetic testing method for an electromagnetic testing system equipped with a robot as described above, the method comprising: S101, controlling the robot to move continuously, performing high-speed continuous electromagnetic testing, collecting near-field electromagnetic data, interpolating the test results, and obtaining near-field test data of each sampling point; S102 , obtaining a radiation pattern of the device under test by applying an electromagnetic near-field to far-field transformation algorithm to the near-field test data of each sampling point.

[0007] In the present application, for a robot with a motion preprocessing mechanism integrated in the controller, the motion preprocessing mechanism is a motion stack. When multiple positions are sent from the host computer to the robot, the robot receives the first position and starts to execute to the first position, while continuously receiving subsequent positions and saving them in the motion stack. After the robot reaches the first position, it takes out the positions to be executed from the motion stack in sequence and executes them in sequence; for a robot without an integrated motion preprocessing mechanism in the controller, after sending a control command to the robot, the actual position of the robot is read in a loop until the robot reaches the target position, and then the next target position is sent. The robot executes in sequence in the order in which the position command is sent by the host computer. Therefore, high-speed continuous testing of the electromagnetic test system equipped with a robot can be achieved, which can save test time, so that the test work that used to take several hours to complete can be completed within 10 minutes, shortening the waiting time of the test engineer. Because continuous testing is performed, the electromagnetic data obtained after the scanning is completed is not the final result. What is ultimately needed is the amplitude and phase of each sampling point. Therefore, the present application obtains the amplitude and phase of each sampling point by interpolation. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] Figure 1 This is a flow chart of an electromagnetic testing method for an electromagnetic testing system equipped with a robot provided in one embodiment of the present application.

[0009] Figure 2 This is a flowchart for controlling continuous motion of a robot in which a motion preprocessing mechanism is integrated in a controller, provided by an embodiment of the present application.

[0010] Figure 3 This is a flowchart for controlling continuous motion of a robot without an integrated motion preprocessing mechanism in the controller, provided by an embodiment of the present application.

[0011] Figure 4 This is a flowchart of interpolating test results to obtain near-field test data of each sampling point provided by an embodiment of the present application.

[0012] Figure 5 and Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the results of high-speed testing of a robot with a motion preprocessing mechanism integrated in the controller.

[0013] Figure 7 and Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of the results of high-speed testing of a robot without integrated motion preprocessing in the controller. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0014] In order to make the purpose, technical solution and beneficial effects of the present application more clearly understood, the present application is further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain the present application and are not used to limit the present application.

[0015] In order to illustrate the technical solution described in this application, a specific embodiment is provided below for illustration.

[0016] An embodiment of the present application provides an electromagnetic testing system equipped with a robot, the electromagnetic testing system comprising a robot, a host computer, a device to be tested, a test probe, a vector network analyzer and a fixing frame for placing the device to be tested, the robot having a controller; The test probe is placed on the flange of the robot body, and the device to be tested is placed right in front of the antenna; The robot is driven and controlled by the host computer. The host computer can send a control code containing the target position to the robot. After receiving the control code containing the target position, the robot moves to the target position. The host computer is used for data transmission between the vector network analyzer and the robot controller; The vector network analyzer is responsible for collecting the amplitude and phase data of the near-field electromagnetic space through which the test probe passes; When a control code containing multiple target positions is sent from the host computer to the robot's controller, since the robot's execution speed is slower than the program's execution speed, in order to ensure that the robot can reach each position in the order of the sent positions, different implementation strategies need to be formulated according to the control mechanism inside the robot's controller; For robots with motion preprocessing mechanisms integrated in the controller, this motion preprocessing mechanism is a motion stack. When multiple positions are sent from the host computer to the robot, the robot receives the first position and starts to execute towards the first position, while continuously receiving subsequent positions and saving them in the motion stack. After the robot reaches the first position, it takes out the positions to be executed from the motion stack in sequence and executes them in sequence. Due to the existence of the motion stack, the positions that enter the stack later will not overwrite the positions that enter the stack earlier, which can ensure that the robot executes in the order in which the position commands are sent by the host computer. For robots that do not have an integrated motion preprocessing mechanism in their controllers, multiple positions cannot be sent to the robot's controller at the same time, because the positions sent later to the controller will overwrite the positions sent earlier to the controller, so that the robot cannot move sequentially in the order of the positions sent by the host computer; for robots that do not have an integrated motion preprocessing mechanism in their controllers, after sending a control command to the robot, the actual position of the robot is read in a loop until the robot reaches the target position, and then the next target position is sent, thereby ensuring that the robot executes sequentially in the order in which the position commands are sent by the host computer.

[0017] In one embodiment of the present application, the robot controller and the host computer are configured in the same network segment, and the robot controller and the host computer are connected through a LAN port. The communication between the robot controller and the host computer is mainly realized through the TCP protocol, so that efficient data transmission can be achieved. On the robot with a motion preprocessing mechanism integrated in the controller, the average data delay is 4ms, and on the robot without a motion preprocessing mechanism integrated in the controller, the average data transmission delay is 30ms.

[0018] TCP communication designates the robot's controller as the server. The controller is used to parse the control code of the target position sent by the host computer, obtain the target position value, and pass it into the robot's X, Y, Z position variables and RX, RY, RZ posture variables respectively; turn on the robot's servo controller, establish a connection between the host computer and the robot's controller, the robot's controller receives and parses the control code, turns on the servo mechanism, and powers on the robot's mechanical arm; controls the robot to move to the target position; when the robot moves, reads the position of the robot's end in real time and sends the position to the host computer; TCP communication designates the host computer as the client to establish a connection with the robot's controller; after establishing a connection with the robot's controller, the target position is sent to the robot's controller; the real-time position of the robot's controller is received, and it is determined whether the target position has been reached.

[0019] In one embodiment of the present application, the parsing of the control code of the target position sent by the host computer to obtain the target position value is specifically: parsing the string of bytes in the control code of the target position sent by the host computer into the target position value according to the separator.

[0020] The robot's motion forms mainly include motion in Cartesian space and motion in joint space.

[0021] See also Figure 1 , is an electromagnetic testing method of an electromagnetic testing system equipped with a robot provided in an embodiment of the present application, the method comprising: S101, controlling the robot to move continuously, performing high-speed continuous electromagnetic testing, collecting near-field electromagnetic data, interpolating the test results, and obtaining near-field test data of each sampling point.

[0022] In one embodiment of the present application, the controlling the robot to move continuously specifically includes: For robots with motion preprocessing mechanisms integrated into the controller, the following steps are included (such as Figure 2 shown): S201, the robot controller establishes a connection with the host computer; S202, the host computer sends a position control command to the controller; S203, after receiving the position control command, the controller records it in the memory; S204, the robot executes the position control commands in the order of the received position control commands; S205. Determine whether the robot has traversed the entire test plane. If yes, end; otherwise, return to S204.

[0023] In one embodiment of the present application, all sampling points of the test plane are divided into rows and columns of equal distance. If only the starting point and the end point of each row are sent, the robot will no longer stay in this row. At the same time, due to the robot's motion preprocessing mechanism integrated in the controller, the starting position and the end point position of each row can be sent to the robot. In fact, since the execution speed of the program is much faster than the running speed of the robot, if it is not controlled in the upper computer program, all positions will be sent to the controller almost at the same time by default. However, due to the motion preprocessing mechanism, the robot will store the positions that have been received but not yet executed in the robot controller motion stack, and execute them in sequence according to the order stored in the motion stack, thereby ensuring the complete arrival of a test plane.

[0024] For robots without integrated motion preprocessing mechanisms in the controller, the following steps are included (such as Figure 3 shown): S301, determine whether the robot has traversed the entire test plane, if yes, then end, otherwise execute S302; S302, the host computer sends the target position to the robot; S303, determine whether the robot reaches the target position, if yes, execute S306, otherwise execute S304; S304, the host computer continues to send the current target position to the robot; S305, read the position of the robot, and then return to S303; S306. The host computer sends the next target position to the robot, and then returns to S301.

[0025] In one embodiment of the present application, when the spatial distance between the end position of the robot and the target position is less than a preset threshold, it is considered that the robot has reached the target position.

[0026] For a complete test plane, the test plane is divided into two-dimensional rows and columns with equal spacing. When sending control commands to the robot, only the starting position and the ending position of each row are sent to the robot.

[0027] In an embodiment of the present application, interpolating the test results to obtain near-field test data of each sampling point may specifically include: S401, dividing the test points of the test plane into rows and columns, and finding the test data belonging to the first row of the test plane by position from the original data recording the robot position and electromagnetic data; S402, starting from the first row of the test plane, interpolating and calculating the amplitude and phase of each test point row by row; S403, determining the amplitude and phase data belonging to the current row in the original data; S404, obtaining the relationship between amplitude and phase by calling an interpolation function; S405, interpolation calculation of the amplitude and phase of each sampling point; S406, after the current row interpolation is completed, the next row is interpolated and calculated; S407: Determine whether all rows have been traversed. If yes, end; otherwise, return to S403.

[0028] It is understandable that since continuous testing is performed, the electromagnetic data obtained after the scan is completed is not the final result. What is ultimately needed is the amplitude and phase of each sampling point. Therefore, the amplitude and phase of each sampling point need to be obtained through interpolation.

[0029] S102 , obtaining a radiation pattern of the device under test by applying an electromagnetic near-field to far-field transformation algorithm to the near-field test data of each sampling point.

[0030] Figure 5 and Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the results of a high-speed test of a robot with a motion preprocessing mechanism integrated in the controller. Figure 7 and Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of the results of high-speed testing of a robot without integrated motion preprocessing in the controller.

[0031] It can be understood that achieving continuous movement of the robot is the key and prerequisite for achieving electromagnetic continuous testing, because during the test, the test probe is placed on the flange of the robot body, and the continuous movement of the robot drives the test probe to achieve continuous movement, thereby achieving the purpose of rapid testing.

[0032] In the present application, for a robot with a motion preprocessing mechanism integrated in the controller, the motion preprocessing mechanism is a motion stack. When multiple positions are sent from the host computer to the robot, the robot receives the first position and starts to execute to the first position, while continuously receiving subsequent positions and saving them in the motion stack. After the robot reaches the first position, it takes out the positions to be executed from the motion stack in sequence and executes them in sequence; for a robot without an integrated motion preprocessing mechanism in the controller, after sending a control command to the robot, the actual position of the robot is read in a loop until the robot reaches the target position, and then the next target position is sent. The robot executes in sequence in the order in which the position command is sent by the host computer. Therefore, high-speed continuous testing of the electromagnetic test system equipped with a robot can be achieved, which can save test time, so that the test work that used to take several hours to complete can be completed within 10 minutes, shortening the waiting time of the test engineer. Because continuous testing is performed, the electromagnetic data obtained after the scanning is completed is not the final result. What is ultimately needed is the amplitude and phase of each sampling point. Therefore, the present application obtains the amplitude and phase of each sampling point by interpolation.

[0033] It should be understood that each step in each embodiment of the present application is not necessarily performed in sequence according to the order indicated by the step number. Unless there is clear explanation in this article, the execution of these steps does not have strict order restriction, and these steps can be performed in other orders. Moreover, at least a part of the steps in each embodiment can include a plurality of sub-steps or a plurality of stages, and these sub-steps or stages are not necessarily performed at the same time, but can be performed at different times, and the execution order of these sub-steps or stages is not necessarily performed in sequence, but can be performed in turn or alternately with at least a part of other steps or sub-steps or stages of other steps.

[0034] Those skilled in the art can understand that all or part of the processes in the above-mentioned embodiment methods can be completed by instructing the relevant hardware through a computer program, and the program can be stored in a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium. When the program is executed, it can include the processes of the embodiments of the above-mentioned methods. Among them, any reference to memory, storage, database or other media used in the embodiments provided in this application can include non-volatile and / or volatile memory. Non-volatile memory may include read-only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), electrically programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM) or flash memory. Volatile memory may include random access memory (RAM) or external cache memory. As an illustration and not limitation, RAM is available in many forms, such as static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDRSDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous link (Synchlink) DRAM (SLDRAM), memory bus (Rambus) direct RAM (RDRAM), direct memory bus dynamic RAM (DRDRAM), and memory bus dynamic RAM (RDRAM).

[0035] The technical features of the above embodiments may be combined arbitrarily. To make the description concise, not all possible combinations of the technical features in the above embodiments are described. However, as long as there is no contradiction in the combination of these technical features, they should be considered to be within the scope of this specification.

[0036] The above embodiments only express several implementation methods of the present invention, and the descriptions thereof are relatively specific and detailed, but they cannot be understood as limiting the scope of the invention patent. It should be pointed out that, for those of ordinary skill in the art, several variations and improvements can be made without departing from the concept of the present invention, and these all belong to the protection scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the patent of the present invention shall be subject to the attached claims.

Claims

1. An electromagnetic testing system equipped with a robot, characterized in that: The electromagnetic testing system comprises a robot, a host computer, a device to be tested, a test probe, a vector network analyzer and a fixing frame for placing the device to be tested, and the robot has a controller; The test probe is placed on the flange of the robot body, and the device to be tested is placed right in front of the antenna; The robot is driven and controlled by the host computer. The host computer can send a control code containing the target position to the robot. After receiving the control code containing the target position, the robot moves to the target position. The host computer is used for data transmission between the vector network analyzer and the robot controller; The vector network analyzer is responsible for collecting the amplitude and phase data of the near-field electromagnetic space through which the test probe passes; For robots with motion preprocessing mechanisms integrated in the controller, the motion preprocessing mechanism is a motion stack. When multiple positions are sent from the host computer to the robot, the robot receives the first position and starts to execute towards the first position, while continuously receiving subsequent positions and saving them in the motion stack. After the robot reaches the first position, it sequentially takes out the positions to be executed from the motion stack and executes them sequentially. For robots without integrated motion preprocessing mechanism in the controller, after sending a control command to the robot, the actual position of the robot is read in a loop until the robot reaches the target position, and then the next target position is sent. The robot executes in the order in which the position commands are sent by the host computer.

2. The electromagnetic testing system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The robot controller and the host computer are configured in the same network segment, and the robot controller and the host computer are connected through the LAN port.

3. The electromagnetic testing system according to claim 2, characterized in that: The communication between the robot controller and the host computer is mainly achieved through the TCP protocol.

4. The electromagnetic testing system according to claim 3, characterized in that: TCP communication designates the robot's controller as the server. The controller is used to parse the control code of the target position sent by the host computer, obtain the target position value, and pass it into the robot's X, Y, Z position variables and RX, RY, RZ posture variables respectively; turn on the robot's servo controller, establish a connection between the host computer and the robot's controller, the robot's controller receives and parses the control code, turns on the servo mechanism, and powers on the robot's mechanical arm; controls the robot to move to the target position; when the robot moves, reads the position of the robot's end in real time and sends the position to the host computer; TCP communication designates the host computer as the client to establish a connection with the robot's controller; after establishing a connection with the robot's controller, the target position is sent to the robot's controller; the real-time position of the robot's controller is received, and it is determined whether the target position has been reached.

5. The electromagnetic testing system according to claim 4, characterized in that: The control code of the target position sent by the host computer is analyzed to obtain the target position value: Parse the bytes in the control code of the target position sent by the host computer into the target position value according to the delimiter.

6. An electromagnetic testing method for an electromagnetic testing system equipped with a robot according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: The method comprises: S101, controlling the robot to move continuously, performing high-speed continuous electromagnetic testing, collecting near-field electromagnetic data, interpolating the test results, and obtaining near-field test data of each sampling point; S102 , obtaining a radiation pattern of the device under test by applying an electromagnetic near-field to far-field transformation algorithm to the near-field test data of each sampling point.

7. The electromagnetic testing method according to claim 6, characterized in that: The controlling the robot to move continuously specifically comprises: For robots with motion preprocessing integrated into the controller, the following steps are included: S201, the robot controller establishes a connection with the host computer; S202, the host computer sends a position control command to the controller; S203, after receiving the position control command, the controller records it in the memory; S204, the robot executes the position control commands in the order of the received position control commands; S205, determine whether the robot has traversed the entire test plane, if yes, then end, otherwise return to S204; For robots without motion preprocessing integrated into the controller, the following steps are involved: S301, determine whether the robot has traversed the entire test plane, if yes, then end, otherwise execute S302; S302, the host computer sends the target position to the robot; S303, determine whether the robot reaches the target position, if yes, execute S306, otherwise execute S304; S304, the host computer continues to send the current target position to the robot; S305, read the position of the robot, and then return to S303; S306. The host computer sends the next target position to the robot, and then returns to S301.

8. The electromagnetic testing method according to claim 6, characterized in that: When the spatial distance between the robot's end position and the target position is less than a preset threshold, the robot is considered to have reached the target position.

9. The electromagnetic testing method according to claim 6, characterized in that: For a complete test plane, the test plane is divided into two-dimensional rows and columns with equal spacing. When sending control commands to the robot, only the starting position and the ending position of each row are sent to the robot.

10. The electromagnetic testing method according to claim 6, characterized in that: The interpolation of the test results to obtain the near-field test data of each sampling point specifically includes: S401, dividing the test points of the test plane into rows and columns, and finding the test data belonging to the first row of the test plane by position from the original data recording the robot position and electromagnetic data; S402, starting from the first row of the test plane, interpolating and calculating the amplitude and phase of each test point row by row; S403, determining the amplitude and phase data belonging to the current row in the original data; S404, obtaining the relationship between amplitude and phase by calling an interpolation function; S405, interpolation calculation of the amplitude and phase of each sampling point; S406, after the current row interpolation is completed, the next row is interpolated and calculated; S407: Determine whether all rows have been traversed. If yes, end; otherwise, return to S403.

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