The Testing Blog

National Technical Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: NTSC) (NTS), a leading provider of engineering services, announced today that its NQA division has completed the acquisition of Unitek Technical Services, Inc., formerly a Business Unit of Bureau Veritas, in an all-cash transaction. Unitek is a leading provider of supply chain management services headquartered in Centreville, VA, close to Washington, DC. Further terms were not disclosed.

Founded in 1973, Unitek provides supplier management, development, source inspections and related technical services to corporations worldwide. Unitek's client list includes a distinguished list of tier one aerospace and defense suppliers to the federal government and commercial customers, said William C. McGinnis, CEO of National Technical Systems. Unitek is also certified to the internationally recognized Aerospace Quality Management standard AS 9100.

“Unitek enjoys great customer relationships and has an advanced customer and resource management software system,” McGinnis said. “Unitek's technically advanced, web-based system will allow our clients, suppliers and field resources the ability to access data in real time, which can provide a range of unique value-added services. These customer relationships and resources, along with Unitek's experienced and dedicated management team and staff, will allow us to further integrate and support our clients with an even broader range of services.”

Unitek's long term performance and track record with its clients speaks to the company's dedication to being responsive to client needs, and to its ability to provide high quality support resources on demand, added Derek Coppinger, NTS Senior Vice President responsible for acquisitions.

The acquisition of Unitek Technical Services helps fill a strategic piece of our overall business plan to provide engineering and technical support services to our extended client base, specifically in the aerospace & defense markets,” Coppinger said.

Unitek's current management and employees are expected to remain with the firm and continue to operate from its Centreville headquarters.

About Bureau Veritas

Bureau Veritas, headquartered in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, is a global company, founded in 1828, offering conformity assessment services in the areas of quality, health, safety, environment and social responsibility (QHSE). With over 2,000 professionals in over 50 offices across the United States, and operations in over 900 locations in 140 countries, Bureau Veritas develops solutions that contribute to risk prevention and performance improvement for commercial and governmental clients.

About National Technical Systems

National Technical Systems, Inc. is a leading provider of engineering and testing services to the defense, aerospace, telecommunications, automotive and high technology markets. Through a world-wide network of resources, NTS provides full life-cycle product integrity support, offering world class design engineering, compliance, testing, certification, quality registration and program management. For additional information about NTS, visit our website at www.ntscorp.com or call 800-270-2516.

via National Technical Systems Acquires Unitek Technical Services From Bureau Veritas.

National Technical Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTSC) (NTS), was awarded contracts by General Atomics (GA) Electromagnetic Systems Division (EMS) of San Diego, Calif. for the performance of electromagnetic compatibility (EMC and environmental testing for the Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) and the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS).

NTS, under contract to GA EMS, supports environmental qualification testing at GA’s EMS manufacture and test facility at Tupelo, Miss. Some of the tests are being conducted at Joint Base McGuire-Dix – Lakehurst, N.J., where full-scale EMALS and AAG systems are installed and qualified by GA- EMS and the Navy. The EMALS and AAG customer is Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR).

NTS will provide environmental and EMC test engineering and evaluation for AAG and EMALS systems to be installed on CVN 78. Testing will be conducted at both the major assembly and component level. Additional testing will be conducted at NTS laboratories located in Santa Clarita and Fullerton, Calif., Boxborough, Mass. and Tinton Falls, N.J. NTS resources support the testing and evaluation program over the next two years.

The EMALS system consists of a high-voltage transformer rectifier manufactured by Neeltran, high power inverters manufactured by GA EMS, a large motor generator, to store energy, manufactured by Kato, and a rectifier manufactured by L-3 Pulse Power Division. Four linear induction motors manufactured by GA EMS will accelerate the launch aircraft from a dead stop to about 150 knots in 3 seconds or less.

Visit this website for more info.

National Technical Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: NTSC) (NTS), is pleased to announce the addition of tunable resonant beam apparatus for metal-to-metal simulated Pyroshock testing at its Tinton Falls, NJ engineering and test facility.

Pyroshock testing is designed to simulate the high-frequency, high-magnitude shock pulse that a product may experience as the result of an explosive event, such as an explosive impact on a military tank structure or the separation of booster rockets from the space shuttle during flight. This type of explosive impact can cause failures in electronic components and thus endanger the survival of the system as a whole.

The Pyroshock test differs from other mechanical shock tests in that there is very little rigid body motion of the product. In this test method, an aluminum bar with rectangular cross-section is clamped to a massive base. Clamps are intended to impose nearly fixed-end conditions on the beam. When the beam is struck with a cylindrical mass fired from the air gun beneath the beam, the beam will resonate at the first bending frequency of the beam, which is a function of the distance between the clamps. The tunable resonant beam method provides a good, general purpose Pyroshock simulator, since the knee frequency is continuously adjustable over a wide frequency range, 500 Hz to 3,000 Hz for example.

NTS’ new 17,000 pound system is designed to simulate the far-field Pyroshock spectrum. The original system design was developed by Neil Davie, Principal Member of the Technical Staff, Mechanical Environments, Sandia National Laboratories. The design was then adopted as a “recommended practice” by the Institute for Environmental Science and Technology and published in the “Pyroshock Testing Techniques” IEST-RP-DTE032.1 document.

“The addition of this new test capability demonstrates both the technical expertise of the NTS engineering team in its construction, and our commitment to continue to add capabilities and capacity to meet the ongoing needs of our customers in the defense and aerospace markets” commented NTS General Manager Richard Gaynor, “We look forward to demonstrating this unique new capability.”

For more information – click here.

NTS  is pleased to announce the approval of our Calgary, Alberta, Canada laboratory as a Verizon Independent Testing Laboratory (ITL). This certification program approval allows NTS Calgary to perform NEBS testing for Verizon’s telecommunications equipment vendors.

Telecommunications equipment suppliers to Verizon must have their products tested to ensure compliance with the NEBS (Network Equipment Building System) specifications. NEBS is the generic requirement for the spatial environmental, EMI/EMC, and product safety of telecom equipment being deployed in the central office. These requirements are mandated by Telecommunications Operating Companies, providing them confidence that all telecom equipment has a high degree of reliability and will work under extreme environments while maintaining service for their customers.

The FCC has announced that it has currently halted issuing new and any Class 2 Permissive Change certifications that require a DFS evaluation for Master devices until further notice. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is currently investigating interference with UNII Master Devices and the FCC. Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS), a mechanism to allow unlicensed devices to share spectrum with existing radar systems is mandated in the 5250-5350 and 5470-5725 MHz UNII bands.

Elliott Laboratories continues to test Master devices and is currently awaiting on further updates from the FCC. For more information, please contact us via email at info@elliottlabs.com or at 408-245-7800.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a $7,000 forfeiture against Sennheiser Electronic Corporation for willful and repeated violation of Section 302(b) of the Communications Act of 1934; the apparent violation involves Sennheiser’s marketing of unauthorized radio frequency devices.

In July 2008, the Enforcement Bureau Spectrum Enforcement Division began an investigation into Sennheiser’s marketing of wireless microphones. In a letter of inquiry dated August 15, 2008, the Division instructed Sennheiser to provide specific information regarding the manufacture, marketing, and the certification status of the wireless microphone systems it sells. In its September 15, 2008, response to the letter of inquiry, Sennheiser indicates that, while preparing its response, it discovered that one of its wireless microphones did not have a valid certification.

Readers can view the FCC notice by clicking here.

Manufacturers of Information Technology Equipment (ITE) intended for sale in the European Union should take note of some important changes that are slated to go into effect with regard to their EMC testing requirements under emissions standard EN 55022:2006.

In November 2008 the European Union’s Official Journal (OJ) published lists of standards for the Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Directive and Radio and Telecommunications Terminal Equipment Directive (R&TTED). Both lists include references to EN 55022:2006 and its amendment A1, released in 2007.

EN 55022:2006 will supersede EN 55022;1998 and become the requirement for Information Technology Equipment (ITE) sold into the European Union after October 1st 20091 , with the requirements of Amendment A1:2007 coming into force one year later on October 1st 2010. What are the differences between the 1998 and 2006 versions of the standard and what new requirements will be introduced by A1:2007? Let’s begin by reviewing the history of CISPR 22 from 1997 onwards. International Standard CISPR 22 is the basis for not only EN 55022 but also for many of the other national versions of standards for ITE.

To read the rest of the article, please click here.

Elliott Laboratories is currently equipped to conduct the EU free space testing above 1 GHz per EN55022:2006+ A1 and/or CISPR 22:2005 + A1 in all chambers at our Fremont facility. For more information about how this change affects your products or for a price quote to test your product, please contact us at info@elliottlabs.com or call at 408-245-7800.

National Technical Systems Inc (NTS) has begun ZigBee testing for RF4CE platforms. The new RF4CE test program will verify functionality and interoperability of the ZigBee RF4CE across multiple vendors, with product-level certification testing soon to follow. Testing of the specification will allow manufacturers to quickly and easily develop interoperable products based on the standard.

Culver City, CA (PRWEB) June 8, 2009 — National Technical Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:NTSC) (NTS), a leading provider of quality, conformance and certification testing, quality registration and managed services, announced today that it has kicked off its testing program for the ZigBee RF4CE specification.

The ZigBee RF4CE specification was designed for radio-frequency based remote controls, providing a low power solution that removes line-of-sight issues commonly associated with typical consumer remotes. NTS has been working with the ZigBee RF4CE Special Interest Group (SIG) for several months on a defined test standard that would allow for low-cost compliance verification of remote controls and “targets” (e.g., TVs, stereos, CD players, etc.). In addition, the standard allows for two-way communications (between remote and target, or even target to target) for a better consumer experience.

The RF4CE test program will verify functionality and interoperability of the ZigBee RF4CE platforms across multiple vendors, with product-level certification testing soon to follow. Testing of the specification will allow manufacturers to quickly and easily develop interoperable products based on the standard.

“NTS has been an authorized ZigBee test lab for many years, and we are pleased that we will be performing testing for the new consumer electronics standard for ZigBee members,” said Osman Sakr, NTS CTO. “ZigBee RF4CE will open up an entirely new market to the benefits of ZigBee technology, and we are looking forward to being part of the radio-frequency remote revolution.”

“Working with an experienced certification provider, like NTS, has allowed us to offer a meaningful, cost-effective certification program, so that ZigBee members can get ZigBee RF4CE products to market quickly,” said Bob Heile, Chairman of the ZigBee Alliance. “We look forward to continuing to work with NTS on ZigBee public profile certifications.”

“NTS has been a great contributor in the timely completion of the ZigBee RF4CE certification program,” commented Victor Berrios, chairman of the ZigBee RF4CE compliance working group. “Their experience in testing and input to the working group was a valuable resource when working on the program.”

ZigBee RF4CE: More flexibility and control

The ZigBee RF4CE specification is based on IEEE 802.15.4. MAC/PHY radio technology in the 2.4GHz unlicensed frequency band and enables worldwide operation, low power consumption and instantaneous response time. It allows omni-directional and reliable two-way wireless communication, frequency agility for enhanced co-existence with other 2.4GHz wireless technologies, simple security set-up and configuration. During the next quarter, the Alliance will develop a test program consistent with existing policies for specifications and public application profiles. Once complete, products using a public application profile based on the ZigBee RF4CE specification can be submitted to an authorized test house for certification.

via NTS Begins Testing for ZigBee RF4CE Specification

I’ve you’re a hardware or software developer, you obviously know that Microsoft Windows 7 is on the way – and it’s coming quickly! According to the latest rumors (backed up by the stability of the test builds being made available), Windows 7 should be released by the end of the year, but the question is are you (and your products) ready? Have you tested your hardware and/or software products under Windows 7?

With the dismal release that was Windows Vista, many users and corporations have held off on upgrading their Windows XP or earlier platforms to the latest version of Windows. There is a huge amount of pent-up demand for a fast, stable, secure operating system, and as soon as Windows 7 hits, a large number of computers will be upgrading. Don’t get caught unprepared, as many manufacturers did with Windows Vista.

Windows 7 is much more than just fancy window dressings. Windows 7 has made significant performance improvements on the underlying technology which is based on Windows Vista, including much of the same driver technologies. If you’ve submitted products for Windows certification, you’ve probably already discovered that Microsoft is requiring that new submissions include testing under Windows 7. So, if you haven’t already, make sure to get testing NOW!

Ever have a computer just totally die on you in the middle of testing? Of course, if you’re testing a new product, it’s not that uncommon to have it crash, and sometimes even corrupt the system. The problem is if you’ve still got data on that computer that you need to get to – or even the debug logs to see what happened before every went to heck. Problem is, what do you use to get into your dead computer?

As long as you can still boot from a CD, you’ve got options. Check out this article from PCWorld: Six Downloadable Boot Discs That Could Save Your PC

And don’t forget to back up your system! Even if you can reproduce the data, you probably don’t want to spend the time (and your boss doesn’t want to spend the money on your salary) to get it back.