A major North American automotive OEM is using the Titan modular DAQ system from Mars Labs, LLC for larger-channel automotive durability and fatigue testing requirements. Mars Labs manufactures rugged, high-performance data acquisition for aerospace, automotive, off-highway, military, and test and measurement requirements.
Typical automotive durability and fatigue testing requires dynamic frequency measurements, ranging from static conditions to bandwidths up to 50 Hz. It is not uncommon for such testing to be executed via simulation-based systems, which further require the use of analog outputs for proper closure of the system's outer control loop.
Full-vehicle durability and fatigue testing typically calls for the use of a higher-channel count DAQ, particularly one with low power consumption, compact size, ruggedness, and a direct interface between the system and sensor cables.
Customized Version
Working closely with the automotive OEM customer, Mars Labs created a modified standard version of its popular Titan DAQ with integrated Bendix connectors. The integration facilitated the direct connection of all required vehicle sensors. The company further developed a digital interface for specified wheel force transducers. In addition, Mars Labs integrated the Titan CPU to facilitate connection of up to 8 mini-recorders, expanding the DAQ analog channel count to 128, and incorporating an additional analog output module for direct vehicle simulation system integration.
The modular Titan DAQ, available in both standard and custom models, can be used for durability and fatigue, noise and vibration, shock, compression, and acoustics measurements. It is expressly designed for direct integration with a wide range of sensing technology types, including IEPE-type piezoelectric accelerometers and microphones; full active bridge MEMS-based piezoresistive accelerometers; and quarter-, half-, and full-bridge strain gage (gauge) transducers. The Titan features a low-drift, low-noise analog front end with excellent stability for longer duration dynamic test requirements. Additional features for automotive durability and fatigue testing include 8-pole Butterworth filters and an improved 10-pole linear-phase filter; support for the 4,096 samples/s and 512 samples/s scan rates most commonly used in simulation-based systems; channel-count expandability; analog output support; and direct interface to specialty automotive sensors, such as wheel force transducers and instrumented steering wheels.
