Creating a Synthetic Virtual Instrument for Avionics Testing

The demand for fast evolution and increased flexibility of electronics systems in many different industries and applications has driven the trend for increasing software content of electronics systems. In measurement and automation, the prevailing trend over the past 20 years has been towards measurement instruments that define their capability through software. Virtual instrumentation, which emerged in the mid-1980s, has been at the forefront of this trend. Recently, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) articulated their desire for more flexble, software-based test systems through an initiative called Synthetic Instrumentation.