UNIVERSAL TESTER HARDWARE
A universal testing system platform with a modular and symmetrical design that provides faraday cages in a flexible, efficient and space saving architecture for testing wireless devices.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/818,803, filed Nov. 21, 2017, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/057,085, filed Feb. 29, 2016, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,990,113, issued Feb. 20, 2018.
This application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/866,720, filed Sep. 25, 2015 now U.S. Pat. No. 9,810,735, issued Nov. 7, 2017; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/866,752, filed Sep. 25, 2015 now U.S. Pat. No. 10,122,611, issued Nov. 6, 2018; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/866,630, filed Sep. 25, 2015 now U.S. Pat. No. 9,960,989, issued May 1, 2018; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/866,780, filed Sep. 25, 2015 now U.S. Pat. No. 9,491,454, issued Nov. 8, 2016; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/948,143, filed Nov. 20, 2015 now U.S. Pat. No. 9,992,084, issued Jun. 5, 2018; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/929,180, filed Oct. 30, 2015; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/929,220, filed Oct. 30, 2015; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/948,925, filed Nov. 23, 2015 now U.S. Pat. No. 9,838,295, issued Dec. 5, 2017; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/987,538, filed Jan. 4, 2016 now U.S. Pat. No. 9,900,116, issued Feb. 20, 2018, each of which are hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
TECHNICAL FIELDThe present invention is directed to a system for testing devices.
For a better understanding of the various embodiments of the invention, reference should be made to the description of embodiments below, in conjunction with the following drawings in which like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts throughout the figures.
Methods, systems, user interfaces, and other aspects of the invention are described. Reference will be made to certain embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. While the invention will be described in conjunction with the embodiments, it will be understood that it is not intended to limit the invention to these particular embodiments alone. On the contrary, the invention is intended to cover alternatives, modifications and equivalents that are within the spirit and scope of the invention. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.
Moreover, in the following description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the invention may be practiced without these particular details. In other instances, methods, procedures, components, and networks that are well known to those of ordinary skill in the art are not described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the present invention.
According to certain embodiments, a universal test station for testing wireless devices such as wireless routers, cable modems, set top boxes, cable modems with eMTA (Embedded Multimedia Terminal Adapter, a combination cable modem and telephone adapter) comprises a modular rack with a symmetrical architecture and compact footprint. The symmetrical design provides for easy installation of the universal test station equipment. For example, the equipment includes:
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- 2 MOCA harnesses
- 4 Faraday cages (each cage has 4 device test slots but the embodiments not restricted to 4 slots per Faraday cage. The number of slots per Faraday cage may vary from implementation to implementation)
- 4 servers (the embodiments not restricted to 4 servers per rack. The number of servers per rack may vary from implementation to implementation).
- keyboard and mouse
- computer screen
- 4 PDUs (power distribution unit with multiple outputs to distribute electric power to the equipment in the universal tester station
As can be seen from
According to certain embodiments, the compact footprint of the rack 101 allows for the set up of multiple similar racks in the testing area of a room. According to certain embodiments, each rack 101 is approximately 7 feet in height and 3 feet in width and has a depth that can accommodate the Faraday cages as described herein. Each rack 101 can be assembled using standard 19 inch rack rails and rack shelves that are approximately 3 feet in width and with a depth that can accommodate the Faraday cages as described herein. Further, rack 101 is not restricted to 4 Faraday cages, 4 servers, and 4 PDUs. Since rack 101 is modular in nature, rack 101 can be easily expanded to support an increased number of MOCA harnesses and/or Faraday cages and/or servers and/or PDUs, etc., depending on the floor space available and/or the needs or business objectives or technical objectives of the test facility or of the associated enterprise. Similarly, modular rack 101 can be easily reduced to support a reduced number of MOCA harnesses and/or Faraday cages and/or servers and/or PDUs, etc.
As a non-limiting example, each universal test station 100 is supplied with Internet connectivity for remote management and technical support of the universal test station 100. As a non-limiting example, Internet access for the universal test station 100 comprises a static public IP address. As another non-limiting example, each universal test station 100 has two “20A” outlets.
According to certain embodiments, as a non-limiting example, each server in the universal test station 100 is of a 3U rackmount size (e.g., 17.1″×5.1″×25.5″) and supports the testing of 4 devices under test (DUTs) simultaneously. Each DUT when undergoing tests are installed in a given test slot of a given Faraday cage of universal test station 100.
According to certain embodiments, as a non-limiting example, the computer screen, keyboard and mouse (not shown in
As a non-limiting example, each server is equipped with at least the following components of the latest engineering design (if appropriate):
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- 7×Quad Ethernet card: Network interface cards are used to test the LAN/WAN functionality of the device under test (DUT). The ports include cables that connect to the connector plate of a given test slot of a given Faraday Cage (there are 4 test slots in a Faraday cage, according to certain embodiments). The DUT is connected to the server ports through the connector plate.
- 4×Dual Band Wireless adapter: The adapter cards are used to test the WiFi functionality of the DUT. Each adapter card supports 2 bands (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) and IEEE 802.11 b/g/n/ac standard. The SMA (SubMiniature version A connectors or semi-precision coaxial RF connectors) cables run from the adaptor card ports to the connector plates of a given Faraday Cage where WiFi antennas are connected.
According to certain embodiments, there are total of 4 Faraday (RF) cages per universal test station 100. Each RF cage supports 4 test slots to support a total of 16 slots. Two of the RF cages are on right side of Rack 101 and the other two RF cages are on left side of Rack 101. The RF cages help protect the DUT from WiFi interference from nearby devices and DUTs. The WiFi signal strength and reverse/forward bandwidth of signals are improved to great extent through the use of RF cages, according to certain embodiments.
In the foregoing specification, embodiments of the invention have been described with reference to numerous specific details that may vary from implementation to implementation. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.
Claims
1. A universal test station comprising:
- a rack comprising a plurality of shelves, the rack having a front, a rear, a first side, and a second side;
- a first Faraday cage stored on the first side of the rack, the first Faraday cage comprising a first plurality of test slots, each test slot in the first Faraday cage defining an internal chamber;
- a corresponding first plurality of door assemblies partially defining the first plurality of test slots, each door assembly of the first plurality of door assemblies when opened exposing an opening in a test slot of the first Faraday cage, each opening configured to provide access to an internal chamber from the first side of the modular rack;
- a second Faraday cage stored on the second side of the rack, the second Faraday cage comprising a plurality of test slots, each test slot in the second Faraday cage defining an internal chamber; and
- a corresponding second plurality of door assemblies partially defining the second plurality of test slots, each door assembly of the second plurality of door assemblies when opened exposing an opening in a test slot of the second Faraday cage, each opening configured to provide access to an internal chamber from the second side of the rack.
2. The universal test station of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of power distribution units.
3. The universal test station of claim 1, further comprising a computer screen affixed to the modular rack.
4. The universal test station of claim 1, further comprising a keyboard and mouse shelf affixed to the modular rack.
5. The universal test station of claim 1, wherein each test slot of the first and second plurality of test slots includes a connector plate, the connector plate including a plurality of RJ45 coupler holes, a plurality of RJ12 coupler holes, a plurality of F-Jack to F-Jack adapters, a plurality of SubMiniature version A (SMA) connectors, and a power harness.
6. The universal test station of claim 1, further comprising a first Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) harness stored on the front of the modular rack, and a second MoCA harness stored on the rear of the modular rack, wherein each MoCA harness comprises:
- a plurality of router brackets that are associated with a corresponding plurality of wireless routers configured as MoCA local area network (LAN) Bridges and MoCA wide area network (WAN) Bridges; and
- a plurality of splitter assemblies wherein each splitter assembly of the plurality of splitter assemblies includes a corresponding plurality of 3-way splitters.
7. The universal test station of claim 6, wherein each MoCA harness further comprises:
- a harness chassis, the harness chassis comprising a bottom plate, side walls extending upwardly from sides of the bottom plate, end plates extending upwardly from ends of the bottom plate, and a top plate contacting ends of the side walls opposite the bottom plate, the harness chassis defining a harness chamber;
- wherein the plurality of router brackets and the plurality of splitter assemblies are received in the harness chamber.
8. The universal test station of claim 6, wherein each splitter assembly in the plurality of splitter assemblies further comprises a plurality of wire tabs, each wire tab in the plurality of wire tabs spaced from a corresponding 3-way splitter.
9. A universal test station comprising:
- a modular rack comprising a plurality of shelves, the modular rack having a front, a rear, a first side, and a second side;
- a first set of Faraday cages stored on the first side of the modular rack, each Faraday cage in the first set of Faraday cages defining a first internal chamber;
- a corresponding first set of door assemblies partially defining the first set of Faraday cages, each door assembly of the first set of door assemblies when opened exposing an opening in each Faraday cage of the first set of Faraday cages, each opening configured to provide access to each first internal chamber from the first side of the modular rack;
- a second set of Faraday cages stored on the second side of the modular rack, each Faraday cage in the second set of Faraday cages defining a second internal chamber; and
- a corresponding second set of door assemblies partially defining the second set of Faraday cages, each door assembly of the second set of door assemblies when opened exposing an opening in each Faraday cage of the second set of Faraday cages, each opening configured to provide access to each second internal chamber from the second side of the modular rack.
10. The universal test station of claim 9, further comprising a plurality of power distribution units.
11. The universal test station of claim 9, further comprising a computer screen affixed to the modular rack.
12. The universal test station of claim 9, further comprising a keyboard and mouse shelf affixed to the modular rack.
13. The universal test station of claim 9, wherein each Faraday cage of at least a subset of the first and second sets of Faraday cages comprises:
- a plurality of test slots, wherein each test slot of the plurality of test slots includes a connector plate, the connector plate including a plurality of RJ45 coupler holes, a plurality of RJ12 coupler holes, a plurality of F-Jack to F-Jack adapters, a plurality of SubMiniature version A (SMA) connectors, and a power harness.
14. The universal test station of claim 9, further comprising a first Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) harness stored on the front of the modular rack, and a second MoCA harness stored on the rear of the modular rack, wherein each MoCA harness comprises:
- a plurality of router brackets that are associated with a corresponding plurality of wireless routers configured as MoCA local area network (LAN) Bridges and MoCA wide area network (WAN) Bridges; and
- a plurality of splitter assemblies wherein each splitter assembly of the plurality of splitter assemblies includes a corresponding plurality of 3-way splitters.
15. The universal test station of claim 14, wherein each MoCA harness further comprises:
- a harness chassis, the harness chassis comprising a bottom plate, side walls extending upwardly from sides of the bottom plate, end plates extending upwardly from ends of the bottom plate, and a top plate contacting ends of the side walls opposite the bottom plate, the harness chassis defining a harness chamber;
- wherein the plurality of router brackets and the plurality of splitter assemblies are received in the harness chamber.
16. The universal test station of claim 146, wherein each splitter assembly in the plurality of splitter assemblies further comprises a plurality of wire tabs, each wire tab in the plurality of wire tabs spaced from a corresponding 3-way splitter.
Type: Application
Filed: Feb 22, 2019
Publication Date: Jun 20, 2019
Inventors: Samant Kumar (San Jose, CA), Shivashankar Diddimani (Bangalore), James Christopher Collip (Sunnyvale, CA), Mrinal Mathur (San Jose, CA), Hemanth Nekkileru (San Jose, CA), Naresh Chandra Nigam (San Jose, CA)
Application Number: 16/283,340