Automotive NVH Data Logging for Todays Vehicles

Author - Laura


The Ford Model A was the original car produced by Ford, and was first sold to Ernst Pfennig, a Chicago dentist on July 23, 1903. Only 1,750 Model As were made from 1903 through 1904, until it was replaced by the Ford Model C during 1904.

The car came as a two-seater runabout or four-seater tonneau model with an option to add a top. The horizontal-mounted flat-2, situated amidships of the car, produced 8 hp (6 kW). A planetary transmission was fitted with two forward speeds and reverse, a Ford signature later seen on the Ford Model T. The car weighed 1,240 lb (562 kg) and could reach a top speed of 28 mph (45 km/h). It had a 72 inch (1.8 m) wheelbase and sold for a base price of US$750. Band brakes were used on the rear wheels.

Although Ford advertised the Model A as the "most reliable machine in the world", it suffered from many problems common to vehicles of the era, including overheating and slipping transmission bands. 


Cars today go through stringent tests in the development stage, before they even reach the market. 
United Electronic Industries (UEI)’s popular UEILogger Cube in conjunction with the DNA-AI-211 ICP/IEPE interface and the DNA-AI-208 or AI-224 strain gage interfaces have been used by a wide variety of customers in the study of vehicle NVH (Noise, Vibration and Harshness) characteristics.

The Cube is an ideal measurement platform for in-vehicle automobile NVH testing, being compact, rugged and running off any power supply between 9 and 36 VDC. This combination makes it easy to fit the cube in the boot, engine bay or underneath a seat. As well as logging the NVH data, the UEILogger can also acquire CAN data, allowing simply correlation between the vehicle dynamics (e.g., speed, RPM) and NVH.

All this is possible without writing any code as the UEILogger is programmed by a simple, intuitive Windows GUI. 

For more information please get in touch with our UEI specialist - Tony Seal - on +44 1672 511166 or by email - tony.seal@sarsen.net

MATLAB VIRTUAL CONFERENCE 2015

This year’s MATLAB Virtual Conference will take place on Wednesday, March 25.

With a product focus on MATLAB and Simulink this free event offers four tracks covering all experience levels:

• Introduction to MATLAB and Simulink: Learn the basics of the MATLAB and Simulink product families so that you can get started quickly.
• What's New: Introducing new features and capabilities in MATLAB and Simulink
• Data Analytics: Learn how MATLAB is used to meet various challenges, enabling organisations to gain deeper insights and make more informed decisions.
• MATLAB and Simulink in Academia: Attend presentations that cover techniques and best practices for integrating MATLAB and Simulink into your curriculum and research.

United Electronic Industries is a participating partner this year, and will be showcasing some great Simulink demos on the UEI data acquisition hardware.

This event is completely free to attend, so register now to learn how you can get the most out of MATLAB and Simulink.

Free Aerospace/Avionics Control and Monitoring Systems Webinar Next Week!

 Author - Laura Biddiscombe

Join United Electronic Industries for their
"Control & Monitoring Systems for Aerospace Applications" Webinar!

Wednesday, February 11 from 7-8pm GMT.

What You'll Learn

• How to strengthen the performance of your avionics test and simulation applications
• How high channel density modules, along with AVIONICS bus support, can help you develop a distributed and modular networked architecture that produces results in a “close to the action” environment
• How our hardware, software, and support can help you find the best possible solution.

 

UEI's data acquisition and control products are rugged, reliable, and extensible systems that can be used in a variety of applications. Backed by a 10-year Availability Guarantee, UEI's systems use a variety of modes, operating systems, languages, and interfaces to adapt to how you work.

UEI supports all popular Windows, Vista, Linux and Real-time operating systems and programming languages. We also offer complete and seamless support of all major application packages, including LabVIEW, MATLAB and DASYLab.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT UNITED ELECTRONIC INDUSTRIES

Extra Diagnostic Power When You Need It - The GUARDIAN Series I/O boards from United Electronic Industries

Author: Laura Biddiscombe

The Guardian series of boards from United Electronic Industries (UEI) provide a host of powerful diagnostics and have been extremely popular in simulator applications as well as other applications requiring high system up-time and maintainability.

The Guardian series boards provide an extra level of diagnostics and are designed to help you quickly and easily diagnose and correct short circuits, open circuits, over-voltage conditions and many other possible failure conditions. These features are also very useful when used in conjunction with Power On Self Test (POST). All Guardian series I/O boards are shown on a green background in the latest edition of the UEI Product Catalogue - click here to request a free copy.

With so many I/O options available to the UEI's unique PowerDNA/DNR I/O interface chassis, there are virtually limitless possibilities for deployment to suit your unique application, all with outstanding software support for a great number of operating platforms including Linux, Windows and Real-time operating systems. Application packages including LabVIEW, MATLAB, DASYLab are also supported. As with all PowerDNA/DNR products from UEI, their I/O boards are guaranteed to remain available for the next 10 years.

The DNx-DIO-449 from United Electronic Industries is a 48 channel, high performance AC and DC digital input board designed for use in a wide variety of digital monitoring applications.

For more information please contact Sarsen Technology on +44 1672 511166, or email the team.

New YouTube Video Series from United Electronic Industries

Author - Laura Biddiscombe 

Now United Electronic Industries (UEI) has made it even easier to stay up-to-date with what they are up to, with regular vNews updates on their YouTube channel.

Each video will feature form factor and deployment options, applications, programming, screencasts, product releases, and hands-on demos. The new YouTube video series starts with a solutions overview, and will continue with updates in applications and programming.

Not only that, the new QuickTakes series features brief, fun, "selfie-style" how-tos and application demonstrations by UEI engineers — sure to inspire your thinking about application possibilities.

Here are the first QuickTakes in the series:

• How to control an aircraft throttle using UEI RVDT synchro board and display results via web browser
• How to take vibration measurements using the UEI spectrum analyzer and the ICP/IEPE board from UEI
• Real-time control using embedded Linux and a UEI programmable automation controller

For more information about products and solutions from UEI please contact Sarsen Technology by email - info@sarsen.net or give us a call on +44 1672 511166.

UEIPAC Now Supported by VxWorks

The UEIPAC™ programmable automation controllers from United Electronic Industries (UEI) offer an unprecedented combination of flexibility, high performance, low cost and small size, making them ideal solutions for a wide variety of measurement and control applications including: Temperature control, Remote vehicle control (UAV and ULV), Hardware in-the-loop (HIL) and more.

A key advantage of the UEIPAC is its standalone application deployment. In PowerDNA systems, the VxWorks application is written for, and runs on a host PC that is connected to one or more UEI chassis via Ethernet. In UEIPAC systems, the VxWorks application runs directly on the UEI RACK or Cube. There is no need for a separate host PC, though you can certainly connect one in a monitoring or supervisory role.

The new VxWorks support allows these applications to be developed and run in VxWorks. This allows smaller, faster, more reliable and higher performances systems. It also eliminates the cost of a dedicated host PC and guarantees long term availability of the identical hardware. This is critical when certifying products through CE or FDA, etc.

VxWorks Deployments
You can now make the most of all the hardware advantages of UEI’s popular UEIPAC chassis and continue to develop your applications in VxWorks. This combination provides hard real-time performance, an extremely robust and reliable operating system and allows you to develop your application in a familiar environment. It also allows you to preserve a great deal of previously written code.

To deploy a UEIPAC application running VxWorks you’ll need the following.

• A UEIPAC (any version)
• The “UEIPAC VxW BSP”. You only need to purchase the BSP once, regardless of the number of systems you deploy
• A VxWorks development system (from Wind River)
• A VxWorks run-time license for each UEIPAC deployed. (also purchased from Wind River )

For more information please contact Sarsen Technology on +44 1672 511166 or send us an email - info@sarsen.net

Sarsen Technology is Hiring!

We've started the New Year with a lot of focus on the United Electronic Industries product line.

To support this focus we're on the lookout for someone to join the team in an FAE/Sales Engineer

role. We want someone who can provide sales and technical support to both new prospects and existing customers.

If you have a solid technical background and a strong drive to succeed, we're looking for you. The products we supply and support are industry-leading and complex. You would be responsible for sales activity within specified current key accounts and for sales activity at prospects from assigned sales leads.

The skills and experience we are looking for include:

• 2+ years’ experience in an engineering or technical position
• LabVIEW, MATLAB or Simulink programming experience
• Effective written and verbal communications skills
• Programming experience in a PC environment
• Degree in Electronic Engineering, Physics, Computer Science or a related field
• Instrumentation, DAQ or Control system experience
• Linux, QNX, VxWorks or other Real-Time OS experience
• Prior technical support or technical sales experience
• Sound business judgement to quickly identify strong opportunities and action plans
• The ability to work effectively as part of a team
• The ability to quickly build long-term and effective relationships with clients
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Resilience and tenacity
• Independent and creative sales technique
• A full driving licence

If you think you tick these boxes we want to talk to you. Please contact Nigel Norman on +44 1672 511166 or send us an email. 

NO AGENCIES PLEASE

Wind Power Generator Monitor and Control

Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form of energy, such as using wind turbines to make electrical power or windmills for mechanical power.

The UEIPAC from United Electronic Industries (UEI) is an ideal solution for monitoring and controlling wind power generators, powerful enough to provide control for everything from blade angle to output voltage and log everything from wind speed to power output.

The UEIPAC’s easy access to Ethernet means it can easily run as a slave to a primary host PC when desired, but can take over and run stand-alone if anything happens to the primary communications link. It's very easy to set up - build your application on a Linux PC, or a Windows PC using Cygwin, and once developed, compile your code and download it to the UEIPAC. From there it can run fully stand-alone, or you can keep it on your network to provide updates to your host.

The Cube’s rugged environmental spec eliminates the need for any heating or cooling in the control rack. The standard UEIPAC cubes are tested from -40° to +85° C, at 100 g shock, 5 g vibration and altitudes up to 120,000 feet and are tough enough for the most challenging applications. All I/O is fully isolated from the controller so the UEIPAC is largely immune to the glitches and spikes so commonly seen in the grounds of an industrial environment.

In more complex applications, we have customers running very complex vibration analysis to identify degradation in bearings, transmissions and turbines. This data can then be correlated with other information acquired allowing the implementation of a very powerful predictive maintenance program.

We also have a number of customers who use UEI’s Cubes and RACKtangles as remote communications links. Applications for remote serial communications include wind farms where the system needs to consolidate RS-485 data from a series of turbines and send the data to the supervisory computer.

For more information on the UEIPAC or any of the UEI products please contact the Sarsen team on +44 1672 511166 or email us - info@sarsen.net

Good Things Come In Flat Packages....

Following the huge success of their RACK and Cube chassis, United Electronic Industries has introduced another rugged and compact data acquisition and I/O measurement and control platform.

Enter.... the FLATRACK™

The DNF-4-1G FLATRACK™ is an Ethernet-based DAQ and control platform in a 1U rackmount chassis. It provides two Gigabit Ethernet (100/10 Base-T compatible) interfaces and four front-loading I/O slots that allow I/O boards to be quickly and easily installed, retrofitted or removed.

The four available slots can be populated from a selection of over 50 I/O layers, including CAN bus, ARINC-429, analog input boards, analog output boards, digital I/O interfaces for logic and real-world signal levels, counters and timers and quadrature encoder inputs. The list goes on….

You can also choose AC or DC powered versions of the DNF-4-1G. The DC version requires a DC power source between 9 and 36 Volts. The AC unit operates from 100 to 240 VAC, from 50 to 60 Hz.

And of course, no system is complete without software. The DNF-4-1G FLATRACK is supported by all popular Windows, Linux, Vista, and real-time operating systems (RTOS), and the UEIDAQ Framework (included with the rack) provides a simple and universal API layer to support all common programming languages.


The DNF-4-1G is also fully supported by an array of application packages including LabVIEW, MATLAB, DASYLab and more.

For more information please contact the sales team at Sarsen Technology on +44 1672 511166, or send us an email.

Vehicle NVH Testing - Automotive April from Sarsen Technology!

Noise, vibration and harshness (NVH), also known as noise and vibration (NV) is the study and modification of the noise and vibration characteristics of vehicles, particularly cars and trucks.

There are many sources of noise in a vehicle, including the engine, driveline, tyre contact patch and road surface, brakes, and wind. Noise from cooling fans, or the HVAC, alternator, and other engine accessories is also fairly common.

There are three principal means of improving NVH:

1. Reducing the source strength, as in making a noise source quieter with a muffler, or improving the balance of a rotating mechanism 
2. Interrupting the noise or vibration path, with barriers (for noise) or isolators (for vibration) 
3. Absorption of the noise or vibration energy, as for example with foam noise absorbers, or tuned vibration dampers.

Specific methods for improving NVH include the use of tuned mass dampers, sub-frames, balancing, modifying the stiffness or mass of structures, retuning exhausts and intakes, modifying the characteristics of elastomeric isolators, adding sound deadening or absorbing materials, or using active noise control. In some circumstances, substantial changes in vehicle architecture may be the only way to cure some problems cost effectively.

Noise dampening panels inlayed in a car bonnet

The UEI Cube is an ideal measurement platform for in-vehicle automobile NVH testing. The Cube is small, rugged and runs off any power supply between 9 and 36 VDC. This combination makes it easy to “bury” the cube in the car’s trunk, engine compartment or under a seat.

UEI’s popular UEILogger Cube in conjunction with the DNA-AI-211 ICP/IEPE interface and the DNA-AI-208 or AI-224 strain gage interfaces have been used by a wide variety of customers in the study of vehicle NVH (Noise, Vibration and Harshness) characteristics.

In addition to logging the NVH data, the UEILogger can also acquire CAN data, allowing simply correlation between the vehicle dynamics (e.g. speed, RPM) and NVH. All this is possible without righting any code as the UEILogger is programmed by a simple, intuitive Windows GUI.

For more information please contact Sarsen Technology on +44 1672 511166 or email us - info@sarsen.net

Sarsen Spotlight Shines on the UEI Guardian Series

United Electronic Industries (UEI) is a leader in the PC/Ethernet data acquisition and control, Data Logger/Recorder and Programmable Automation Controller (PAC) and Modbus TCP markets.

They currently offer over 50 different I/O boards for their Cube and RACKtangle chassis. The RACK/Cube versions of the boards are electrically identical and use the same printed circuit board, components and software.

The 'Guardian' series boards provide a host of powerful diagnostics, and have been extremely popular in simulator applications as well as other projects requiring high system up time and maintainability.

The Guardian series boards are designed to help you quickly and easily diagnose and correct short circuits, open circuits, over-voltage conditions and many other possible failure conditions. These features are also very useful when used in conjunction with Power On Self Test (POST).

Some of the benefits of the Guardian Series

• Built-in monitoring of output voltage and current detects shorts/opens
• PWM output and soft-start mode
• Built-in A/D converter allows actual input voltage to be measured
• Output current readback
• Output voltage readback

The PowerDNA Cube and RACKtangle I/O chassis and I/O layers are supported by all popular Windows, Linux and Real-time operating systems. The UEIDAQ Framework provides a simple and universal API and supports all common programming languages. The Cube is also fully supported by an extensive array of application packages including LabVIEW, MATLAB, DASYLab and more.

With so many I/O options available there are virtually limitless possibilities for deployment to suit your unique application. UEI also guarantees that the hardware you purchase today will be still be available 10 years from now, giving you complete peace of mind that your solution will be supported for the duration of it's life, and possibly beyond!

For more information on UEI and the Guardian series, please give us a call on +44 1672 511166, or email us. We look forward to hearing from you!

Sarsen Gearing Up for UEI Visit Next Week!

On a scale from 1 to Rebecca Black, how excited are you that it's Friday??

We are especially excited, as we have Rick Van Nostrand from United Electronic Industries over next week and we're taking him to see some of our most interesting customers.

UEI is a versatile product line, with application possibilities ranging from automotive testing to power plant monitoring, all the way through to ULV control and vehicle simulators. This means we get to speak to a wide variety of companies, and get involved in some truly diverse projects!

With some brand new opportunities to discuss, and new people to meet, next week is going to be a busy one. If you have an application that you think would benefit from learning a little more about the UEI range of data acquisition and logging products please give us a call on +44 1672 511166, or drop us an email.

Have a great weekend!

Happy New Year from Sarsen Technology!

Happy New Year!

If you’ve been away over Christmas, welcome back. If not, did you miss us?

The Sarsen Team have enjoyed a few days off over the holiday period, but we’re back in the office now, and looking forward to all the exciting things we have coming up this quarter. We have visitors coming from across the pond, from United Electronic Industries and BittWare, and lots of new technology to tell you all about.

Look out for our new blog feature; ‘Under the Spotlight’, every Tuesday, when we shine a light on a Sarsen sector, be it one of our manufacturers, a specific technology, or even a member of staff!

Also new to the blog this quarter is our monthly market focus. January is ‘Green’ month, where we’ll be bringing you information on renewable energy, utilities management and environmental technology available from Sarsen.

As always, if there is anything you would like more information about please get in touch with one of the team on +44 1672 511166 or email us.

Happy New Year and best wishes for an exciting and prosperous 2013.

Military Simulator Technology from UEI

When someone says “Simulator” most people immediately think “Flight Simulator”.

However, simulators are now also used to train ‘drivers’ on fire trucks, tanks, military ground vehicles and even conventional and nuclear power plants. Military trainers in particular are basing much of their driver training on very complex and realistic simulators.

The simulator can provide a realistic experience of driving a tank, personnel carrier, or MRAP in a convoy at night while under attack. These are very real conditions that are very difficult to train for in actual vehicles. The combination of small footprint and real-time update speed make the United Electronic Industries (UEI) RACKtangle an ideal ground vehicle simulator solution.

Interestingly, UEI’s wide selection of I/O capabilities is often more critical in ground simulators than flight. In addition to the standard analog and digital I/O, most military ground simulators also require a combination of serial, CAN, ARINC-429 and/or MIL-STD-1553. UEI offer support for all these functions through their range of boards and chassis.

The UEI RACKtangle I/O chassis has been selected by FlightSafety International as the computer-based I/O hardware for future flight simulators. The UEI system provides the interface between the controlling computers and the simulator’s various systems including Avionics Instrument Control (AIC), Control Loading and Motion (CLM) and Flight Deck I/O (FDK). In PowerDNA mode the system can be almost arbitrarily large - UEI have been used on military aircraft flight simulators requiring greater than 7000 I/O points!!

For more information on how UEI can work in your simulator application, please give us a call on +44 1672 511166, or drop us an email with your requirements.

New and Enhanced Data Acquisition and Control Hardware from United Electronic Industries

Who needs the Argos catalogue? Write your application Christmas list using the brand new brochure from UEI!

Continuing to grow, the latest edition of the catalogue is 40 pages long and filled cover-to-cover, with information on the company's ever expanding product line as well as a number of new application stories, and an all new FAQ section. Request a brochure now from Sarsen Technology!

The UEI catalogue includes information on their growing list of I/O boards that are available for use with the company’s RACK and CUBE chassis. 

One of the major announcements in this volume is the new performance available in the UEILogger. The overall sample rate has been increased by an order of magnitude and the maximum SD card size has gone from 4 GB to 32 GB. In addition the UEILogger now provides alarm outputs, and can now log data from the MIL-STD-1553 bus.

UEI have also used Issue 12 to introduce some new boards to their customers. The DNx-AI-218/228 A/D boards offer channel to channel isolation, 24-bit A/Ds simultaneous sampling and input ranges up to ±300 VDC. The new DNx-AI-212 and DNx-AI-222 provide high performance measurements of thermocouples/RTDs respectively. 

In the avionics world, the DNx-AFDX-664 is scheduled to be released in late 2012 and will be UEI’s first product in the AFDX market place. It joins the existing line which currently includes ARINC-429/708/453 and MIL-STD-1553 interfaces. 

There are also Strain Gauge Simulator and Arbitrary Waveform Generator boards, and some great software to run on them! 

UEI now supports EPICS, the standard in the high-energy physics world. They’ve also released the UEI-RSS (Remote Serial Server) which makes the popular DNx-SL-50x boards look like standard serial ports in your PC. 

If you’re not sure that a UEI I/O system is the right fit for you application why not take advantage of the UEI 30 day evaluation plan?

All hardware manufactured by UEI is available for evaluation. In fact any order for standard product with a total value less than $10,000 is automatically covered by the 30-day evaluation policy and may be returned within 30 days of shipment without restocking fees.

Give us a call to discuss your requirements on +44 1672 511166, or email us with the details!

UEI Embedded Hardware in Space!!

On September 11th, 1997, NASAs 'Mars Global Surveyor' spacecraft reached the Red Planet. 

Space exploration has always intrigued mankind. Ever since Galileo first saw the craters on the moon in 1609 we have wanted to find out more. Is there anybody out there? 

Yuri Gagarin made the first space flight 50 years ago. Since then humans have mastered low earth orbit. Since Gagarin's historic achievement, government agencies such as NASA have launched people into space for mainly scientific reasons. This is about to change. Experts say that by 2061, millions of people may well have gone to space, and thousands may be living there.

The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit, and has been continuously occupied for more than 10 years. Astronauts living at the Space Station are required to complete daily exercise quotas, as studies have shown that they can lose muscle mass, bone mass, and cardiovascular function after long-duration stays in microgravity. Although astronauts gradually recover their muscle tissue and most of their bone mass when they return to Earth, it is important that they are strong enough to perform emergency procedures during landing.

The COLBERT (Combined Operational Load-Bearing External Resistance Treadmill) is adapted from a regular treadmill available on Earth, with a few significant additions!
Without gravity to hold the runner to the surface of the treadmill, elastic straps fit around the shoulders and waist to keep the runner from shooting across the space station with the first step. There is also a structure to support the device that allows astronauts run on it without shaking the rest of the International Space Station, or disturbing delicate experiments taking place in the weightless environment.

NASA selected the UEIPAC Cube to perform an essential role in controlling the COLBERT treadmill in the Space Station exercise facility. Some of the functions monitored by the UEIPAC are characteristics of the astronaut’s gait and foot impact forces while exercising on the treadmill. This is determined by sensing data of various types from accelerometers and load cells in the treadmill and associated restraining equipment.

The fact that the UEIPAC hardware is a very compact, rugged design that makes efficient use of conductive cooling makes the unit ideally suited for space applications. 

NewsBytes Issue 21 - UEI PowerDNR RACKtangle®

The DNR-12-1G RACKtangle® chassis is a compact (3U), rugged Ethernet based data acquisition and control I/O rack from United Electronic Industries (UEI).  The chassis is ideally suited for a wide variety of industrial, aerospace, automotive and laboratory data acquisition and control applications.

The DNR-12-1G houses a PowerDNA data acquisition system in a rack enclosure, and multiple DNR-12-1G systems may be mounted in a single rack. Though the backplane electronics are identical to the popular PowerDNA "Cube" series, the PowerDNR RACKtangle series provides two Gigabit Ethernet interfaces and provides slots for up to 12 I/O boards, with easy board installation and removal directly from the front of the rack. The standard rack is provided with rubber feet which make the DNR-12 ideal for desk or table top applications, and a bracket kit allows the cubes to be mounted to a wall or other flat surface or in any standard 19” rack (3U height).

The UEI PowerDNR DNR-6-1G HalfRACK product is identical to the DNR- 12-1G system except for the size of the enclosure and the number and order of I/O modules it can accept. All standard PowerDNA I/O boards are available in PowerDNR versions for use in DNR-6-1G systems.

The RACKtangle is an ideal substitute for VME technology in data acquisition and control applications. It is smaller, more modern and lower cost. The RACKtangle is also an ideal choice for a host of Ethernet data acquisition and control applications where small footprint and high performance are desired.

Call the Sarsen Team on +44 1672 511166 for more information on UEI's range of products.

www.sarsen.net          info@sarsen.net