Radar reconnaissance load angle measurement precision automatic test system and method

Abstract

The invention discloses a radar reconnaissance load angle measurement precision automatic test system and method. The system comprises a signal generator, a rotary table, a radar reconnaissance load, a power amplifier, an antenna and an upper computer control terminal. According to the invention, a plurality of instruments and equipment and test products are integrated into one test system, the test task is automatically executed through the terminal control system according to the preset program and algorithm, the test system and method can autonomously complete the angle measurement precision test of the radar reconnaissance load, the test efficiency is improved, and the test cost is reduced. The influence of human factors on the test result is reduced, so that the accuracy of the test result is ensured. Research and development of an automatic test system are not only an important demand for development of a radar reconnaissance system, but also an important means for improving performance of the radar reconnaissance system and guaranteeing effectiveness and reliability of the radar reconnaissance system in practical application.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of radar and electronic technology, and in particular to an automatic testing system and method for the angle measurement accuracy of a radar reconnaissance load. Background Art

[0002] Radar signal angle measurement technology has always been an important topic in the research and development of radar reconnaissance systems. Angle measurement accuracy is crucial both in the military and civilian fields. In the military field, with the rapid development of various weapons and the continuous improvement of battlefield confrontation technology, higher and higher requirements are placed on the angle measurement accuracy of reconnaissance systems. Accurately measuring the angle information of the target is a key means for the radar reconnaissance system to obtain the target's spatial coordinate information. Therefore, improving the angle measurement accuracy of radar reconnaissance payloads has always been the focus of researchers.

[0003] At present, the angle measurement accuracy test method of radar reconnaissance payload is to connect the signal generator, turntable, radar reconnaissance payload and computer respectively, adjust the signal generator to output pulse modulated, 33 frequency points of simulated radar signals with a frequency range of 2GHz to 18GHz and an interval of 0.5GHz in sequence, and the radar reconnaissance payload continuously reports the detected target information at an interval of 1.3 seconds, including the azimuth angle of the radiation source relative to the payload. The tester reads the reported angle measurement value through the host computer software and records it manually on the test record sheet. To ensure the stability of the angle measurement result, each point is recorded 3 times. Then the turntable is manually controlled to rotate to 37 azimuth angles with an interval of 5 degrees from -90 degrees to 90 degrees, and the data collection and recording of the above 27 frequency point signals are repeated at each angle. The existing test method is mainly carried out by manually operating the test equipment. This method has problems such as low test efficiency and the test results are greatly affected by human factors. In addition, with the iteration of products, the angle measurement accuracy requirements are getting higher and higher, and the traditional manual test method can no longer meet the needs of high-precision testing.

[0004] Therefore, it is particularly important to develop an automatic test system for the angle measurement accuracy of radar reconnaissance payloads. Summary of the invention

[0005] The object of the present invention is to provide a radar reconnaissance load angle measurement accuracy automatic testing system and method to solve the problems in the background technology.

[0006] In order to solve the above technical problems, the present invention provides a radar reconnaissance payload angle measurement accuracy automatic test system and method, comprising: a signal generator, a turntable, a radar reconnaissance payload, a power amplifier, an antenna and a host computer control terminal;

[0007] The host computer control terminal serves as the control center of the automatic test system, sends control instructions to other components according to the test process through various interfaces and receives target information reported by the radar reconnaissance payload;

[0008] The signal generator receives a control instruction including radio frequency, radio frequency power and pulse modulation parameters sent by the host computer control terminal, generates a simulated radar signal of corresponding parameters and inputs it into the power amplifier, and finally sends it to the radar reconnaissance payload;

[0009] After receiving the angle rotation instruction sent by the host computer control terminal, the turntable rotates the radar reconnaissance payload to the corresponding angle to simulate the reconnaissance payload receiving radar signals at different angles;

[0010] The radar reconnaissance load is used as the object to be tested in the test. After receiving the test instruction sent by the host computer control terminal, it switches from the standby mode to the reconnaissance mode, detects the simulated radar signal sent by the signal generator, runs the angle measurement algorithm to calculate the azimuth of the signal relative to the normal line of the load, and returns the test result to the host computer control terminal for sorting and storage;

[0011] The power amplifier compensates for the line loss from the signal generator to the antenna to ensure that the signal strength meets the test requirements;

[0012] The antenna sends the simulated radar signal sent from the signal generator through the power amplifier to the radar reconnaissance payload with a certain gain.

[0013] In one implementation, the host computer control terminal is connected to the signal generator via a network cable, the host computer control terminal is connected to the radar reconnaissance payload via an RS485 serial port, and the host computer control terminal is connected to the turntable via a USB port.

[0014] In one implementation, the signal generator is connected to the host computer control terminal via a network cable and communicates using the TCP / IP protocol.

[0015] In one embodiment, the turntable is a turntable system, including a turntable driven by a servo motor, on which is installed a set of tooling for fixing the radar reconnaissance payload to be tested, and a turntable controller; during the test, the host computer control terminal sends instructions to the turntable controller, and the turntable controller drives the turntable to perform corresponding actions.

[0016] The present invention also provides a method for automatically testing the angle measurement accuracy of a radar reconnaissance load, comprising the following steps:

[0017] Step S1: Install the radar reconnaissance load angle measurement accuracy automatic test terminal on the computer. If it is the first installation, it is necessary to ensure that the computer has installed the NI-VISA driver for driving the signal generator;

[0018] Step S2: Use a network cable to connect the signal generator to the computer, use an RS485 serial port to USB cable to connect the radar reconnaissance payload to be tested to the computer, use a USB cable to connect the turntable controller to the computer, and power the radar reconnaissance payload through an adjustable power supply;

[0019] Step S3: Start all instruments and equipment, and connect the signal generator, the turntable controller and the radar reconnaissance payload to be tested in the turntable control area, the signal generator control area and the automatic test control area on the main interface of the control terminal respectively;

[0020] Step S4: After the control terminal completes the connection of the instruments and equipment required for the test, the corresponding RF power and pulse modulation parameters are configured in the signal generator control area according to the simulated radar parameters specified in the test plan, and the corresponding automatic test parameters are set according to the planned RF frequency and azimuth intervals and intervals;

[0021] Step S5: Click the "Start Test" button in the automatic test control area to start the test process;

[0022] Step S6: After the signal generator switches and outputs the RF signal of the specified frequency, the test terminal enables the receiving module, receives the target information sent cyclically by the radar reconnaissance payload, triggers the readyRead signal in the QT serial port class and calls the QFile and QTextStream classes in the slot function to store the target information in the specified file. A counter is used at each frequency point to ensure that 3 packets of target information are stored, and then the next frequency point is switched;

[0023] After completing the test of the last angle and frequency point, the test terminal automatically sends a command to turn off the signal generator; after the test is completed, the tester goes to the specified file save path to accept the test results and obtain a summary of the test results;

[0024] Step S7: Calculate the total angle measurement error value and angle measurement accuracy using the following formula:

[0025]

[0026] Where σ is the standard deviation of the overall angle measurement error, x i is a single test data, μ is the average value of the overall angle measurement error, and n is the number of test data groups.

[0027] In one embodiment, the test process in step S5 includes:

[0028] The software first calls the viOpen function in the VISA library for instrument control and the MT_Open_USB function in the MT_API library for turntable control to check the connection status of the signal generator and turntable respectively. When the connection status is true, the automatic test task is started.

[0029] Secondly, after reading the simulated radar parameters and automatic test parameters on the main interface, the software calls the viWrite function in the VISA library and the MT_Set_Target_Position function in the MT_API library to send control instructions to the signal generator and turntable. According to the frequency range and angle range set in the automatic test parameters, the software performs frequency stepping and angle stepping at specified intervals to simulate the scene of the radar reconnaissance payload detecting various radar signals from different directions.

[0030] In automatic testing, the progress of the current test task will be displayed in real time through the status display area of ​​the test terminal main interface, and the tester can monitor the progress of the test in real time.

[0031] In one embodiment, the NI-VISA driver in step S1 is a virtual instrument software architecture API, which provides a programming interface to control Ethernet / LXI, GPIB, serial, USB, PXI and VXI instruments in the NI application development environment; the API is installed through the NI-VISA driver.

[0032] In one embodiment, the test terminal uses a standard SCPI protocol to control a signal generator to switch frequency, power, and pulse modulation parameters; wherein SCPI is a standard command for programmable instruments, an ASCII-based instrument programming language, and is a standardized command set mainly used for control and communication, and is widely used in the control of test and measurement instruments.

[0033] In one embodiment, QT in step S6 is a development tool for the test terminal of the present invention, which is a cross-platform C++ graphical user interface library that includes a set of tools, classes and functions for developing GUI and non-GUI programs.

[0034] The present invention provides a radar reconnaissance load angle measurement accuracy automatic testing system and method, which has the following advantages:

[0035] (1) Improve test efficiency. The present invention integrates multiple instruments and test products into one test system, and automatically executes test tasks according to preset programs and algorithms through the terminal control system without manual intervention, which significantly improves test efficiency;

[0036] (2) Enhance test accuracy. The present invention can eliminate the influence of factors such as tester skill level and fatigue level in traditional manual testing methods, and improve test accuracy;

[0037] (3) Enhanced test reliability. The present invention has high stability and can maintain the consistency of test performance during long-term operation, thereby improving the reliability of the test;

[0038] (4) Reduce testing costs. The present invention can replace most manual operations, and no manual intervention is required during the testing process, which greatly reduces labor costs and improves equipment utilization;

[0039] (5) Facilitates data management and analysis. The present invention can automatically record data, including test time, test conditions, test results, etc., thereby ensuring the integrity and traceability of the data;

[0040] (6) Strong adaptability. The present invention can be flexibly configured and adjusted according to different test requirements, thereby meeting the needs of various complex test scenarios. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0041] Figure 1 It is a block diagram of the system composition of the present invention;

[0042] Figure 2 It is the automatic test software flow chart of the present invention;

[0043] Figure 3 This is a main interface layout diagram of the automatic test terminal of the present invention;

[0044] Figure 4 A line graph summarizing the test results of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0045] The following is a further detailed description of a radar reconnaissance load angle measurement accuracy automatic test system and method proposed by the present invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. The advantages and features of the present invention will become clearer according to the following description. It should be noted that the accompanying drawings are all in a very simplified form and are not in precise proportions, and are only used to conveniently and clearly assist in explaining the purpose of the embodiments of the present invention.

[0046] The invention provides a radar reconnaissance load angle measurement accuracy automatic test system, comprising a signal generator, a turntable, a radar reconnaissance load, a power amplifier, an antenna (i.e. a horn antenna) and a host computer control terminal (i.e. a test terminal).

[0047] The host computer control terminal is used as the control center of the automatic test system, and sends control instructions to other components according to the test process through various interfaces (network port, RS485 serial port, USB port) and receives target information reported by the radar reconnaissance load. Specifically, the host computer control terminal is connected to the signal generator through a network cable, the host computer control terminal is connected to the radar reconnaissance load through an RS485 serial port, and the host computer control terminal is connected to the turntable through a USB port.

[0048] The signal generator is used to receive control instructions containing RF frequency, RF power and pulse modulation parameters sent by the host computer control terminal through the network port, generate a simulated radar signal with corresponding parameters and input it into the power amplifier through the RF line, and finally send it to the radar reconnaissance payload through the antenna.

[0049] The turntable is used to rotate the radar reconnaissance payload to a corresponding angle after receiving an angle rotation instruction sent by the host computer control terminal through the USB port, so as to simulate the reconnaissance payload receiving radar signals at different angles.

[0050] The radar reconnaissance payload is used as the object to be tested in the test. After receiving the test instruction sent by the control terminal through the RS485 serial port, it switches from the standby mode to the reconnaissance mode, detects the simulated radar signal sent by the signal generator, runs the angle measurement algorithm to calculate the azimuth of the signal relative to the normal line of the payload, and returns the test result to the control terminal through the serial port for sorting and storage.

[0051] The power amplifier is used to compensate for the line loss from the signal generator to the antenna to ensure that the signal strength meets the test requirements.

[0052] The antenna is used to send the simulated radar signal sent from the signal generator through the power amplifier to the radar reconnaissance payload with a certain gain.

[0053] Furthermore, the signal generator is connected to the host computer control terminal via a network cable and uses TCP / IP protocol for communication.

[0054] Furthermore, the turntable is a turntable system, including a turntable driven by a servo motor, a set of tooling for fixing the radar reconnaissance load to be tested, and a turntable controller are installed on the turntable. During the test, the automatic test terminal sends instructions to the turntable controller through the USB port, and the turntable controller drives the turntable to perform corresponding actions.

[0055] The present invention provides a method for automatically testing the angle measurement accuracy of a radar reconnaissance payload. Figure 1 The test system shown specifically includes the following steps:

[0056] S1: Install the radar reconnaissance load angle measurement accuracy automatic test terminal on the computer. If it is the first installation, you need to ensure that the computer has installed the NI-VISA driver used to drive the signal generator.

[0057] S2: Figure 2 As shown, use a network cable to connect the signal generator to a computer equipped with an automatic test terminal, use an RS485 serial port to USB cable to connect the radar reconnaissance payload to be tested to the computer, use a USB cable to connect the turntable controller to the computer, use a power cord to connect the adjustable power supply to the radar reconnaissance payload, set the adjustable power supply output voltage to 28V, and turn on the adjustable power supply to power the radar reconnaissance payload.

[0058] S3: Start all instruments and equipment. Figure 3 The turntable control area, signal generator control area and automatic test control area on the main interface of the control terminal are used to connect the signal generator, turntable controller and radar reconnaissance payload to be tested respectively.

[0059] S4: After the control terminal completes the connection of the instruments and equipment required for the test, the corresponding RF power and pulse modulation parameters are configured in the signal generator control area of ​​the main interface according to the simulated radar parameters specified in the test plan, and the corresponding automatic test parameters are set according to the planned RF frequency and azimuth intervals.

[0060] S5: Click the "Start Test" button in the automatic test area of ​​the control terminal main interface to start the test process.

[0061] The software first calls the viOpen function in the VISA library for instrument control and the MT_Open_USB function in the MT_API library for turntable control to check the connection status of the signal generator and the turntable respectively. When the connection status is true, the automatic test task is started. Secondly, after reading the simulated radar parameters and automatic test parameters on the main interface, the software calls the viWrite function in the VISA library and the MT_Set_Target_Position function in the MT_API library to send control instructions to the signal generator and the turntable. According to the frequency range and angle range set in the automatic test parameters, the frequency and angle steps are performed at the specified intervals to simulate the scene of the radar reconnaissance payload detecting various radar signals from different directions.

[0062] In automatic testing, the progress of the current test task will be displayed in real time through the status display area of ​​the test terminal main interface, and the tester can monitor the progress of the test in real time.

[0063] S6: After the signal generator switches and outputs the RF signal of the specified frequency, the test terminal enables the receiving module, receives the target information sent cyclically by the radar reconnaissance payload through the serial port, triggers the readyRead signal in the QT serial port class and calls the QFile and QTextStream classes in the slot function to store the target information in the specified file. A counter is used at each frequency point to ensure that 3 packets of target information are stored, and then the next frequency point is switched. After completing the test of the last angle and frequency point, the test terminal automatically sends a command to turn off the signal generator. After the test is completed, the tester can go to the specified file save path to accept the results of this test. The test results are summarized in Table 1, which records the angle measurement results of each angle at each frequency point.

[0064]

[0065] Table 1

[0066] S7: Use the following formula to calculate the total angle measurement error value and angle measurement accuracy using the test results in Table 1:

[0067]

[0068] Where σ is the standard deviation of the overall angle measurement error, x i is a single test data, μ is the average value of the overall angle measurement error, and n is the number of test data groups. The final test result summary line chart is as follows Figure 4 shown.

[0069] NI-VISA described in step S1 is a virtual instrument software architecture API, which provides a programming interface to control Ethernet / LXI, GPIB, serial, USB, PXI, and VXI instruments in the NI application development environment (LabVIEW). The API is installed through the NI-VISA driver.

[0070] It should be noted that the test terminal uses the standard SCPI protocol to control the signal generator to switch the frequency, power and pulse modulation parameters.

[0071] Among them, SCPI (Standard Commands for Programmable Instruments) is an ASCII-based instrument programming language, which is a standardized command set mainly used for control and communication and is widely used in the control of test and measurement instruments.

[0072] The QT described in step S6 is a development tool for the test terminal of the present invention, which is a cross-platform C++ graphical user interface library that includes a set of tools, classes and functions for developing GUI and non-GUI programs.

[0073] The test system and method of the present invention can independently complete the angle measurement accuracy test of the radar reconnaissance payload, improve the test efficiency, reduce the influence of human factors on the test results, and thus ensure the accuracy of the test results. The research and development of automatic test systems is not only an important requirement for the development of radar reconnaissance systems, but also an important means to improve the performance of radar reconnaissance systems and ensure their effectiveness and reliability in practical applications.

[0074] The above description is only a description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Any changes or modifications made by a person skilled in the art in the field of the present invention based on the above disclosure shall fall within the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. An automatic test system for the angle measurement accuracy of a radar reconnaissance load, characterized in that: include: Signal generator, turntable, radar reconnaissance payload, power amplifier, antenna and host computer control terminal; The host computer control terminal serves as the control center of the automatic test system, sends control instructions to other components according to the test process through various interfaces and receives target information reported by the radar reconnaissance payload; The signal generator receives a control instruction including radio frequency, radio frequency power and pulse modulation parameters sent by the host computer control terminal, generates a simulated radar signal of corresponding parameters and inputs it into the power amplifier, and finally sends it to the radar reconnaissance payload; After receiving the angle rotation instruction sent by the host computer control terminal, the turntable rotates the radar reconnaissance payload to the corresponding angle to simulate the reconnaissance payload receiving radar signals at different angles; The radar reconnaissance load is used as the object to be tested in the test. After receiving the test instruction sent by the host computer control terminal, it switches from the standby mode to the reconnaissance mode, detects the simulated radar signal sent by the signal generator, runs the angle measurement algorithm to calculate the azimuth of the signal relative to the normal line of the load, and returns the test result to the host computer control terminal for sorting and storage; The power amplifier compensates for the line loss from the signal generator to the antenna to ensure that the signal strength meets the test requirements; The antenna sends the simulated radar signal sent from the signal generator through the power amplifier to the radar reconnaissance payload with a certain gain.

2. The radar reconnaissance load angle measurement accuracy automatic test system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The host computer control terminal is connected to the signal generator via a network cable, the host computer control terminal is connected to the radar reconnaissance payload via an RS485 serial port, and the host computer control terminal is connected to the turntable via a USB port.

3. The radar reconnaissance load angle measurement accuracy automatic test system as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The signal generator is connected to the host computer control terminal via a network cable and uses the TCP / IP protocol for communication.

4. The radar reconnaissance load angle measurement accuracy automatic test system as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The turntable is a turntable system, including a turntable driven by a servo motor, on which is installed a set of tooling for fixing the radar reconnaissance payload to be tested, and a turntable controller; during the test, the host computer control terminal sends instructions to the turntable controller, and the turntable controller drives the turntable to perform corresponding actions.

5. A test method based on the automatic test system for angle measurement accuracy of radar reconnaissance load according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: Step S1: Install the radar reconnaissance load angle measurement accuracy automatic test terminal on the computer. If it is the first installation, it is necessary to ensure that the computer has installed the NI-VISA driver for driving the signal generator; Step S2: Use a network cable to connect the signal generator to the computer, use an RS485 serial port to USB cable to connect the radar reconnaissance payload to be tested to the computer, use a USB cable to connect the turntable controller to the computer, and power the radar reconnaissance payload through an adjustable power supply; Step S3: Start all instruments and equipment, and connect the signal generator, the turntable controller and the radar reconnaissance payload to be tested in the turntable control area, the signal generator control area and the automatic test control area on the main interface of the control terminal respectively; Step S4: After the control terminal completes the connection of the instruments and equipment required for the test, the corresponding RF power and pulse modulation parameters are configured in the signal generator control area according to the simulated radar parameters specified in the test plan, and the corresponding automatic test parameters are set according to the planned RF frequency and azimuth intervals and intervals; Step S5: Click the "Start Test" button in the automatic test control area to start the test process; Step S6: After the signal generator switches and outputs the RF signal of the specified frequency, the test terminal enables the receiving module, receives the target information sent cyclically by the radar reconnaissance payload, triggers the readyRead signal in the QT serial port class and calls the QFile and QTextStream classes in the slot function to store the target information in the specified file. A counter is used at each frequency point to ensure that 3 packets of target information are stored, and then the next frequency point is switched; After completing the test of the last angle and frequency point, the test terminal automatically sends a command to turn off the signal generator; After the test is completed, the tester goes to the designated file storage path to accept the test results and obtain a summary of the test results; Step S7: Calculate the total angle measurement error value and angle measurement accuracy using the following formula: Where σ is the standard deviation of the overall angle measurement error, x i is a single test data, μ is the average value of the overall angle measurement error, and n is the number of test data groups.

6. The automatic test method for the angle measurement accuracy of the radar reconnaissance load as claimed in claim 5, characterized in that: The test process in step S5 includes: The software first calls the viOpen function in the VISA library for instrument control and the MT_Open_USB function in the MT_API library for turntable control to check the connection status of the signal generator and turntable respectively. When the connection status is true, the automatic test task is started. Secondly, after reading the simulated radar parameters and automatic test parameters on the main interface, the software calls the viWrite function in the VISA library and the MT_Set_Target_Position function in the MT_API library to send control instructions to the signal generator and turntable. According to the frequency range and angle range set in the automatic test parameters, the software performs frequency stepping and angle stepping at specified intervals to simulate the scene of the radar reconnaissance payload detecting various radar signals from different directions. In automatic testing, the progress of the current test task will be displayed in real time through the status display area of ​​the test terminal main interface, and the tester can monitor the progress of the test in real time.

7. The automatic test method for the angle measurement accuracy of the radar reconnaissance load as claimed in claim 5, characterized in that: The NI-VISA driver in step S1 is a virtual instrument software architecture API, which provides a programming interface to control Ethernet / LXI, GPIB, serial, USB, PXI and VXI instruments in the NI application development environment; the API is installed through the NI-VISA driver.

8. The automatic test method for the angle measurement accuracy of a radar reconnaissance load as claimed in claim 5, characterized in that: The test terminal uses the standard SCPI protocol to control the signal generator to switch the frequency, power and pulse modulation parameters; wherein SCPI is the standard command for programmable instruments, an ASCII-based instrument programming language, mainly used for a standardized command set for control and communication, and is widely used in the control of test and measurement instruments.

9. The automatic test method for the angle measurement accuracy of the radar reconnaissance load as claimed in claim 5, characterized in that: In step S6, QT is a development tool for the test terminal of the present invention, which is a cross-platform C++ graphical user interface library that includes a set of tools, classes and functions for developing GUI and non-GUI programs.

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