The U.S. Air Force (USAF) Sustainment Center at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, has awarded a five-year contract worth $39.8 million to Keysight Technologies for Versatile Diagnostic Automatic Test Station (VDATS) kits that will essentially provide more measurements than previous equipment. The VDATS measurement systems allow evaluation of a greater number of electronic performance parameters than a host of different and unique automatic-test-equipment (ATE) systems and test setups currently in use by the USAF.
The VDATS measurement systems (see the figure) are based on an open architecture with commercially available test instruments and measurement software. The contract covers test instruments with current performance levels and provides for instrument and system upgrades as they become available. The test systems incorporate measurements for generation of advanced modulation waveforms, signal analysis, and network analysis.
“Since its inception, Keysight has offered advanced capabilities and expertise to the U.S. Air Force in support of VDATS and we're honored to be awarded this contract from the Air Force Sustainment Center,” said Vince Nguyen, general manager, Aerospace & Defense Government Solutions Group at Keysight Technologies. He added: “In addition to supporting future upgrades to VDATS test stations, this new multi-year contract with Keysight will provide Robins AFB with ordering convenience and improved configuration management.”