ARC Technology Solutions

Client: The world’s leading supplier of sensors and controls for diverse markets and applications.

Situation: The client required a functional test system for use at the completion of their circuit board production line. The clients’ product is used in residential circuit protection devices meeting new changes in the 2008 NEC (National Electrical Code). These devices must be available for sale on 1 Jan 2008 in home improvement stores and electrical wholesalers.

The client was in the process of developing a test system in house, and was unable to complete the project within the time frame they needed. With this fixed deadline, development and implementation time were of the utmost importance.

Solution: With years of professional experience interfacing with overseas contract manufacturers and test environments, ARC was asked to address their need for an aggressive deployment of several high-volume automated functional test systems. The systems needed to be capable of testing eight devices simultaneously for electrical and mechanical characteristics.

The systems were designed around ARC's DS-100, a National Instruments PXI chassis which contains Win XP, NI TestStand 3.5, NI LabVIEW 8.2 software and controlled by a Windows PC. The client supplied ARC with a preliminary specification during the pre-sales process which was 90% complete. ARC worked collaboratively with the clients engineering team to complete the final 10%. We were able to meet the specifications and tight development time frame by utilizing a combination of COTS (Commercial off the shelf) hardware, ARC existing products and custom developed circuitry.

By using a modified ARC DS-100 as a Programmable Pulse Generator, ARC was able to cut three weeks out of the schedule and was able to develop a turn-key test system in just 4 weeks. Additionally the systems were shipped to Asia and were fully functional within 2 hours of being deployed. ARC is providing support via remote desktop technology on a continuing basis.