Combining NI VeriStand Software and NI DIAdem Software to Improve Real-Time Test Data Management

Overview

Consistent data logging, analysis, and effective data management are critical characteristics of successful engineering enterprises. This is especially true of real-time testing applications, which design and test teams must collaborate on effectively to ensure embedded software and mechanical system product quality. Implementing a standard, automated means of data analysis and report generation helps you view data in a consistent way, regardless of the type of test, to improve test efficiency and makes data much easier to find and interpret. NI VeriStand can be used with DIAdem to quickly and easily log data, perform postprocessing, and generate reports—all from the NI VeriStand workspace.

Contents

The Benefits of Consistent Data Analysis and Report Generation

A growing trend in embedded software development is the reuse of test tools, models, and simulation data beyond their individual silos in the development process. You can increase efficiency by reusing components across design and test. One key area of optimization is data analysis and report generation. If you can view physical test data the same way that you view early development simulation data, you can make informed decisions about the status of the device under test with minimal effort and reduced risk of misinterpretation.

Using a common data logging, analysis, and data management framework helps you see the data the same way regardless of the testing phase. It also helps you quickly identify differences in performance and functionality when conducting regression testing. In the end, you can produce and examine results the same way regardless of where you are in the development process. This means you can make decisions and adjustments more quickly and with greater effectiveness, which reduces the risk of schedule and budget changes.

Figure 1: The same test components can be used across all phases of embedded software development.  

 

Software Solutions for Real-Time Testing and Data Management

NI VeriStand, a configuration-based software environment, helps you develop real-time testing applications more efficiently. Out of the box, NI VeriStand enables you to configure and run simulation models from a variety of modeling environments and programming languages. You can easily connect those models to real world I/O to create a real-time simulator for hardware-in-the-loop testing. NI VeriStand includes a sophisticated stimulus profile editor for authoring real-time test sequences and automating real-time tests. You can store stimulus profiles in libraries to reuse across test phases and perform the same tests, regardless of whether you are performing simulations or mechanical system tests.

NI VeriStand logs data in a variety of ways and formats. Logs can range from single-point data to NI-XNET raw frames to high-speed waveform data from one or more targets. Combining and time correlating the data in these logs is a challenge due to the variety of technologies and data formats.  DIAdem is an interactive and powerful software tool that can simplify this process. DIAdem meets the demands of today’s testing environment, which require you to quickly access, process, and report on large volumes of scattered data in multiple custom formats to make informed decisions. DIAdem helps you correlate data acquired from different sources and overlay it on a single display for comparison and analysis. DIAdem also provides the flexibility to create custom scripts to automate your unique postprocessing routine. One of the key benefits of DIAdem is the ability to execute advanced searching queries built into NI My DataFinder. These advanced search queries can help you quickly retrieve data from previous tests, which makes test comparison and performance analysis easy.

To learn more about time correlating data with NI VeriStand and DIAdem, read the white paper at Time Correlating NI VeriStand Data Logs.

 

Combining NI VeriStand and DIAdem to Improve Data Reliability

NI VeriStand 2013 introduces a configurable workspace data logging utility so you can set up your data logging criteria and log data with the touch of a button. Using the NI VeriStand data logging tool, you can configure triggering, file size limits and segmentation, macro record and playback, and a variety of other parameters. Once you have configured your logging characteristics, you simply push a button to begin logging or monitoring for a log triggering condition.

 

Figure 2: NI VeriStand can be used with DIAdem for automated post processing and report generation.

Another feature introduced with NI VeriStand workspace data logging is direct DIAdem integration for postprocessing and report generation. Using the NI VeriStand data logging utility, you can automatically retrieve data logs from real-time targets, run custom analysis scripts in DIAdem and use predefined report templates to automatically generate reports from your real-time test data. By using a common library of analysis scripts and report templates, you can ensure that data gets processed and presented the same way every time, so that you can easily compare data from multiple tests and better understand the results.

NI VeriStand helps you get your real-time tests up and running more quickly, and DIAdem is a powerful tool for data analysis and data management. By combining these tools, you can automate the way you conduct tests, analyze results, and manage data, which will result in a more efficient development and test process and more thorough testing.  

 

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