An automatic test system for beam operation control module

Abstract

The present invention discloses an automatic test system for a beam operation control module, and the hardware modules include: a test control device: receiving a control command, generating a corresponding control code according to the control command, completing a test system logic conversion, outputting a pulse control signal or a work control signal according to the test system requirements, monitoring the state of a control drive board, and reporting the state to a computer display after processing; a timing generation device: a timing generation module generates a timing signal required for a beam control test according to requirements; a serial communication device: a serial communication module uses an 8-port RS232 / 422 / 485 PCI communication card, has a surge protection function, and a data transmission rate of up to 921.6Kbps, which meets the multi-channel multi-point test function. The present invention can improve time efficiency and cost efficiency.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the field of antenna microwave technology, in particular to an automatic testing system for a beam operation control module. Background Art

[0002] In the current phased array radar, the beam control system is one of the important components of the phased array radar, which mainly completes the rapid scanning of the antenna array beam to achieve target search and tracking.

[0003] The beam control system calculates the phase shift control data of each phase shifter unit in the radar array in real time according to the beam pointing coefficients α, β, current operating frequency and array temperature data provided by the radar controller or data processing system, and sends the phase shift control data to each phase shifter to complete the phase shift work and beam electronic scanning under the timing signal of the whole machine, so as to realize the search, tracking and irradiation of the predetermined airspace. The calculation of the wave control code is divided into the steps of base code calculation, data compensation and query curve table. The corresponding state nonlinear curve is converted into the actual control signal of the phase shifter to drive its work. The actual control signal of the phase shifter is divided into pulse control signal and level control signal. The wave control module that completes the algorithm is called the operation control module, which is the core of the wave control design. The operation control module mainly completes the phase calculation and storage of each sub-array unit, and completes the phase shift of the phase shifter unit under the timing action. The array operation module is distributed on each sub-array, and other systems are connected to it through the bus to complete communication control and detection.

[0004] The operation control module is the main equipment of the beam control system, which is responsible for completing the phase shift angle calculation and control of each unit in the antenna array within the specified time, and controlling the rapid scanning of the antenna beam. In addition, the delay control and imaging functions of the radar can be realized by increasing the control bit number of the phase shifter, controlling the attenuator and delay device.

[0005] The operation and control module is closely related to the scale of the antenna array. It has the characteristics of large quantity, many varieties, high cost, and difficult debugging and testing. The development of an automatic test system for the operation and control module is of great significance to phased array radar.

[0006] The automatic test system is used to generate various control signals, timing signals and instrument automation control required by beam control equipment. It can be widely used in debugging and testing of operation control modules, simulation control of beam control subsystems, test control of antenna arrays, fault location and maintenance of operation control modules, etc. Summary of the invention

[0007] In view of the problems existing in the prior art, the present invention provides an automatic testing system for a beam operation control module which can improve time efficiency and cost efficiency.

[0008] The purpose of the present invention is achieved through the following technical solutions.

[0009] An automatic test system for a beam operation control module uses a CPCI bus, an asynchronous serial bus, a beam control interface bus and other control buses between an industrial computer and each control board to cascade each functional module, and extends a standard GPIB instrument control interface card at the USB port of the computer, so that the entire system can control instruments with a GPIB instrument control bus through the interface, and coordinate the working state of the test instrument under the control of software to meet the test requirements. The hardware module includes: Test control equipment: complete the reception of control commands, generate corresponding control codes according to the control commands, complete the test system logic conversion, output pulse control signals or working control signals according to the test system requirements, monitor the status of the control driver board and report the status to the computer display after processing; Timing generation equipment: The timing generation module generates the timing signals required for wave control testing according to the requirements; Serial communication equipment: The serial communication module uses an 8-port RS232 / 422 / 485 PCI communication card with surge protection function. The data transmission rate can reach up to 921.6Kbps, which meets the multi-channel and multi-point testing function.

[0010] The software modules include: Wave control extension test module: used for wave control extension test, capable of generating control instructions and timing signals required by the extension; Wave control unit test module: used for wave control unit testing, capable of generating the control instructions and timing signals required by the unit; T / R component test module: used for T / R component testing, capable of generating control instructions and timing signals required by components; GPIB control module: used to control GPIB bus devices.

[0011] The control steps include: Step 1: Asynchronous communication is performed with the object under test through the main control software interface, and the corresponding control timing is sent according to the asynchronous serial port command sent. The timing signal adopts RS422 differential output, and the timing of the pulse can be output by the control software or setting; Step 2: The master-slave mode is adopted in the application layer transmission, that is, each communication starts from the bus interface master control device, and the device under test responds and stops; if an abnormality occurs, the test device returns various abnormal codes, including: no valid data, parity error, data length error, cumulative error; Step 3: After receiving the abnormal code, the beam control interface device resends the operation instruction once, wherein the operation instruction includes a data indirect instruction or a request for telemetry data; Step 4: During the unit test, the data is latched at the falling edge of CP, INT0 is the latch completion signal, and the first byte is sent first, and the eighth byte is sent last. The lowest bit is sent first and the highest bit is sent last. Step 5: During the component test, the control signal for the unit test in step 4 is output, and the synchronous serial transmission mode is adopted. The data is latched at the falling edge of CP. INT0 is the latch completion signal. The lowest bit is sent first and the highest bit is sent last. Step 6: The self-test information output by the component can be returned via synchronous serial data; the self-test information and digital telemetry package are returned to the test computer through the input interface for retrieval, processing and display.

[0012] Send and receive messages via half-duplex RS485 bus; the transmission rate is 19200bps, with 1 start bit, 8 data bits, 1 check bit, and 1 stop bit; odd parity is performed on the sent data bytes and even parity is performed on the end character.

[0013] If the bus interface control device does not receive a response from the extension within the time limit, it will resend the operation command. If it still does not receive a response from the device under test within the time limit, the communication will be cancelled.

[0014] Compared with the prior art, the advantages of the present invention are: 1. The present invention can satisfy both the test verification of the tested object and the debugging and single point fault isolation of the tested object; 2. The test software adopts modular design, good openness, easy to expand, friendly human-computer interface and easy operation; 3. According to different objects under test and functions under test, the present invention generates targeted control commands and detection data from the beam control operation test module and connects with the device under test through the corresponding interface, which is applicable to a variety of test objects; 4. The system hardware and software are scalable and can meet the testing needs of the same type of beam control boards; 5. During the batch production of radar, the test system can quickly complete the testing and fault diagnosis of the operation control module, improve work efficiency, effectively save equipment and human resources, and have high economic benefits.

[0015] 6. The present invention is implemented in a cabinet integration manner, which is convenient for transportation. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] Figure 1 This is the block diagram of the wave control system.

[0017] Figure 2 A block diagram of the beam steering test system.

[0018] Figure 3 This is the cabinet for the wave control test system.

[0019] Figure 4 It is the main interface of the wave control automatic test system software.

[0020] Figure 5 Controls timing for the unit.

[0021] Figure 6 The block diagram of the signal generation module. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0022] The present invention is described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

[0023] The design of the beam control system of large phased array radar mostly adopts a multi-level distribution and separate calculation scheme for each level. The principle is that the beam control host is used as the front-end equipment to mainly complete the control command reception and decomposition, the calculation of the conversion of beam pointing angles Φ and θ into α and β coefficients, and transmit them to the array operation control module according to the interface protocol requirements; the operation control module completes the phase control and calculation of the unit in real time, and drives the phase shifter to complete the phase shift under the timing action.

[0024] The wave control design scheme of two-level structure distributed implementation. Its system block diagram is as follows Figure 1 As shown, from Figure 1 We can see that the equipment of the beam control system is divided into two parts. The beam control host receives the beam pointing code, frequency point command, working mode command and timing signal sent by the radar control subsystem, and converts Φ and θ into coefficients α and β after calculation and processing, forming a beam control data bus that meets the beam control interface specification, which is divided into multiple groups and transmitted to the N operation control modules of the array through differential drive. The operation control module completes the phase calculation of all phase shifters of this unit according to the command and completes the beam scanning. At the same time, the collected monitoring signal is sent back to the beam control host through the serial communication bus by the operation processing module of each array. The beam control host adopts time-sharing inspection of each channel serial port, receives the array detection signal, and the data is processed and packaged and reported to the control computer. For the beam control system, the debugging and maintenance of the operation control module is the main work, and due to the large number of operation control modules, the debugging and testing are relatively complicated. In order to improve time efficiency and cost efficiency, an automatic test system for beam operation control modules is developed.

[0025] The present invention is implemented by cabinet integration, such as Figure 2 , Figure 3 .

[0026] The user inputs or calls parameter files through the display interface to generate simulation control instructions, such as Figure 4As shown, the test computer transmits the data to the beam operation control test platform. According to different tested objects and tested functions, the beam control operation test module generates targeted control commands and detection data, which are connected to the tested equipment through corresponding interfaces. The control platform generates input signals for the tested extension. For example, Figure 5 According to the test rules, the extension is controlled in different ways, and the detection of its signal index can be completed by various applicable instruments. The present invention coordinates the work of various modules, has a friendly human-machine interface and is easy to operate.

[0027] The present invention is also feasible for testing single boards and devices. The required data, timing and other input signals are generated by the test computer and the test control platform, and act on the device under test (multiple board-level devices can be tested simultaneously according to the number of extended output ports), and its output signal can be monitored by a single-column instrument in the control platform. The present invention provides a self-checking function for the test equipment, which can isolate the fault to a single module. In addition, the present invention adopts a modular design, which can be freely combined according to different test items to meet the needs of different tests.

[0028] Hardware design: The present invention uses control buses such as CPCI bus, asynchronous serial port bus, wave control interface bus, etc. between the industrial computer and each control board to cascade each functional module, so that the computer can control each module to meet the control signal and data stream transmission.

[0029] The present invention expands a standard GPIB instrument control interface card at the USB port of a computer, so that the entire system can control instruments with a GPIB instrument control bus through the interface, and coordinate the working status of the test instruments under the control of software to meet the test requirements.

[0030] In addition to the programmable power supply, digital oscilloscope, signal generator, industrial control computer and other purchased equipment required by the system, the self-developed hardware of the present invention mainly consists of three parts: Test control equipment: complete the reception of control commands, generate corresponding control codes according to the control commands, complete the test system logic conversion, output pulse control signals or working control signals according to the test system requirements, monitor the status of the control driver board and report the status to the computer after processing. Figure 6 The signal generation module is mainly composed of large-scale integrated circuit FPGA, power management, universal serial port circuit, differential control circuit, etc. Various signal outputs can be set in the software interface; Timing generation equipment: The timing generation module generates the timing signals required for wave control testing according to the requirements; Serial communication equipment: The serial communication module uses an 8-port RS232 / 422 / 485 PCI communication card with surge protection function. The data transmission rate can reach up to 921.6Kbps, which meets the multi-channel and multi-point testing function.

[0031] Structural design: Most of the test system hardware is installed in a standard cabinet. Figure 3 .

[0032] Software design: The software of the present invention consists of four modules to meet the requirements of various test objects: Wave control extension test module: used for wave control extension test, capable of generating control instructions and timing signals required by the extension; Wave control unit test module: used for wave control unit testing, capable of generating the control instructions and timing signals required by the unit; T / R component test module: used for T / R component testing, capable of generating control instructions and timing signals required by components; GPIB control module: used to control GPIB bus devices.

[0033] Step 1: The present invention uses the main control software interface (such as Figure 4 ) to implement asynchronous communication with the object under test. According to the asynchronous serial port command sent, the corresponding control timing is sent, and the timing signal adopts RS422 differential output, wherein the timing of the pulse can be output by the control software or setting. The present invention sends and receives messages through the half-duplex RS485 bus. The transmission rate is 19200bps, with 1 start bit, 8 data bits, 1 check bit, and 1 stop bit. The sent data byte is odd-checked, and the end character is even-checked.

[0034] Step 2: The present invention adopts a master-slave mode in the application layer transmission, that is, each communication starts from the bus interface control device (master), and the device under test responds and stops. If an abnormality occurs, the test device returns various abnormal codes, including: no valid data, parity error, data length error, cumulative error, etc.

[0035] Step 3: After receiving the abnormal code, the beam control interface device resends the operation command (data indirect command or request telemetry data). If the bus interface control device does not receive a response from the extension within the time limit (30 ms), it will resend the operation command (data indirect command). If it still does not receive a response from the device under test within the time limit, the communication will be cancelled.

[0036] Step 4: If Figure 5During the unit test, the data is latched at the falling edge of CP, INT0 is the latch completion signal, and the first byte is sent first and the eighth byte is sent last. The lowest bit is sent first and the highest bit is sent last in the byte.

[0037] Step 5: During the component test, the control signal for the unit test in step 4 is output, and the synchronous serial transmission method is adopted. The data is latched at the falling edge of CP. INT0 is the latch completion signal. The lowest bit is sent first and the highest bit is sent last.

[0038] Step 6: The self-test information output by the component can be returned via synchronous serial data. The self-test information and digital telemetry package are returned to the test computer through the input interface for collection, processing and display.

[0039] The system of the present invention has the characteristics of integration, modularization, strong adaptability, and fault isolation function, which makes up for the shortcomings of the existing test system. The present invention is implemented in a cabinet integration mode, which is convenient for transportation; the test software adopts modular design, has good openness, is easy to expand, has a friendly human-machine interface, and is easy to operate. The system hardware and software are extensible and can meet the testing needs of the same type of beam control boards; according to different objects under test and functions under test, the beam control operation test module generates targeted control commands and detection data, which are connected to the tested equipment through the corresponding interface, and are suitable for a variety of test objects; the present invention can meet the test verification of the tested object, the debugging of the tested object, and the fault isolation of a single point.

Claims

1. An automatic test system for a beam operation control module, wherein the control buses such as CPCI bus, asynchronous serial bus, beam control interface bus, etc. are used between the industrial computer and the control boards to cascade the functional modules, and a standard GPIB instrument control interface card is extended to the USB port of the computer, so that the entire system can control the instrument with the GPIB instrument control bus through the interface, and coordinate the working state of the test instrument under the control of the software to meet the test requirements, characterized in that The hardware modules include: Test control equipment: complete the reception of control commands, generate corresponding control codes according to the control commands, complete the test system logic conversion, output pulse control signals or working control signals according to the test system requirements, monitor the status of the control driver board and report the status to the computer display after processing; Timing generation equipment: The timing generation module generates the timing signals required for wave control testing according to the requirements; Serial communication equipment: The serial communication module uses an 8-port RS232 / 422 / 485 PCI communication card with surge protection function. The data transmission rate can reach up to 921.6Kbps, which meets the multi-channel and multi-point testing function.

2. The automatic test system for a beam operation control module according to claim 1, characterized in that The software modules include: Wave control extension test module: used for wave control extension test, capable of generating control instructions and timing signals required by the extension; Wave control unit test module: used for wave control unit testing, capable of generating the control instructions and timing signals required by the unit; T / R component test module: used for T / R component testing, capable of generating control instructions and timing signals required by components; GPIB control module: used to control GPIB bus devices.

3. The automatic test system of the beam operation control module according to claim 1, characterized in that The control steps include: Step 1: Asynchronous communication is performed with the object under test through the main control software interface, and the corresponding control timing is sent according to the asynchronous serial port command sent. The timing signal adopts RS422 differential output, and the timing of the pulse can be output by the control software or setting; Step 2: The master-slave mode is adopted in the application layer transmission, that is, each communication starts from the bus interface master control device, and the device under test responds and stops; if an abnormality occurs, the test device returns various abnormal codes, including: no valid data, parity error, data length error, cumulative error; Step 3: After receiving the abnormal code, the beam control interface device resends the operation instruction once, wherein the operation instruction includes a data indirect instruction or a request for telemetry data; Step 4: During the unit test, the data is latched at the falling edge of CP, INT0 is the latch completion signal, and the first byte is sent first, and the eighth byte is sent last. The lowest bit is sent first and the highest bit is sent last. Step 5: During the component test, the control signal for the unit test in step 4 is output, and the synchronous serial transmission mode is adopted. The data is latched at the falling edge of CP. INT0 is the latch completion signal. The lowest bit is sent first and the highest bit is sent last. Step 6: The self-test information output by the component can be returned via synchronous serial data; the self-test information and digital telemetry package are returned to the test computer through the input interface for retrieval, processing and display.

4. The automatic test system for a beam operation control module according to claim 3, characterized in that Send and receive messages via half-duplex RS485 bus; the transmission rate is 19200bps, with 1 start bit, 8 data bits, 1 check bit, and 1 stop bit; odd parity is performed on the sent data bytes and even parity is performed on the end character.

5. The automatic test system for a beam operation control module according to claim 4, characterized in that If the bus interface control device does not receive a response from the extension within the time limit, it will resend the operation command. If it still does not receive a response from the device under test within the time limit, the communication will be cancelled.

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