NI, formerly known as National Instruments, announced its ECU Test System offering which assists Tier 1 suppliers in end-of-life testing. NI's first ever purpose-built system for automotive ECUs is, according to the company, helping pilot customers with their end result and budget.

The ECU Test System (ECUTS) is a solution that combines standardization with the flexibility to drive efficiency in tester development, maintenance, and test time. NI integrated the first level of common components into a standardized test architecture to save customers time in the development process and to simplify tester maintenance.

Because of the modular PXI design, testing is flexible and can scale across a range of body, chassis, and powertrain ECUs (based on the instrumentation selected). According to the company, the high-performance hardware (powered by TestStand) can help reduce test time. As many as four DUTs can be tested in parallel with a single test system.

Features of the ECUTS:

• Accelerate development with a higher-level starting point. The Systems R&D team has already integrated instrumentation, cabling, loads, switching, and a mass interconnect into a core rack so customers can focus on building the right test sequences to thoroughly test ECUs.
• Standardize on a global architecture for functional test of body, chassis, and powertrain ECUs. The benefits from this range from leveraging standardized comprehensive service programs, to reusing operator training courses, to being able to correlate data across sites.
• Reduce test cycle time by testing up to four ECUs in parallel.
• Reduce floor space by using one high-throughput tester to do what several used to.
• Reduce risk of downtime through improved system reliability and maintainability with built in troubleshooting tools and global service programs that streamline repairs and exchanges.

NI also unveiled an updated brand identity including a new logo, visual identity, digital experiences, and a brand campaign recognizing the contributions of the engineers and enterprises who “Engineer Ambitiously” every day. To share the stories of those who aim higher and go bigger, NI launched Perspectives.

For more information, visit: ECU Test System (ECUTS).