ADINTS: moving toward standardization of automatic test equipment

In a move towards standardization of automatic test equipment (ATE), the US Air Force is enforcing utilization of modular ATE (MATE) guides in the development of test systems for both current and future avionics programs. The author discusses the design and production of thirteen automatic depot inertial navigation test systems (ADINTS), using the MATE guides. ADINTS is designed with accessible interfaces, large computer memory, reserved rack space and test table flexibility, all of which make it adaptable to many kinds of units under test. Of particular importance in testing inertial products, a real-time-controlled interface is available. The bus architecture complies with the MIL-STD-1553 A/B requirements. When coupled with the benefits to a depot of standardization, commonality of spare parts, and shorter run times, ADINTS has the potential to provide support to other military services and some commercial users of inertial products both in the USA and overseas, as well as the US Air Force.<>