Astronics Introduces Universal Radio Field Test Solution

Dec. 10, 2019
Award-winning ATS-3100 VRS offers precise radio test capability for military, civil and commercial use.

Astronics Corporation introduced today the ATS-3100 Vector Signal Transceiver-based Radio Solution (VRS), a turnkey, consolidated radio test platform for field testing of military tactical, land mobile and avionics radios.

The ATS-3100 VRS is the fifth-generation of radio test solutions from Astronics, now capable of testing emerging software-defined radio (SDR) waveforms, modern multi-band radios and legacy radios (e.g. SINCGARS) from any original equipment manufacturer (OEM). Leveraging the PXI Vector Signal Transceiver (VST) from National Instruments (NI), the platform delivers the fastest test times and widest bandwidth (up to 1GHz) in a radio test solution, enabling high throughput, reduced mean time to repair (MTTR) and maximum uptime of critical radios in the field.

“As radio technology continues to evolve, we are dedicated to providing our customers with support for their most critical assets in the field, from legacy radios to future waveforms,” commented Jim Mulato, president of Astronics Test Systems. “We’re excited to partner with NI on this next-gen solution to deliver superior performance, wider instantaneous bandwidth, and user-programmable capability to our customers that include the military, police, firefighters and other first responders, as well as commercial pilots.”

“By combining Astronics’ deep industry knowledge and test program set (TPS) development expertise with NI’s instrumentation platform and technology, our partnership is accelerating the deployment of advanced tactical radio technologies to deliver the future of radio test now,” said Christer Ljungdahl, principal strategist, aerospace and defense at NI.