MTS Series 793 Controller - Manual (Page 67)

Designing Tests with MultiPurpose TestWare
MTS Series 793 Controller Overview Operation Concepts 67
Types of information in
MPT test procedures
An MPT test procedure contains two types of information:
• Process information, which defines your processes (command, data
acquisition, signal monitoring, and so forth) and the sequence in which each
process executes
• MPT application information, which includes test unit and dimension
assignments, the behavior of hold and resume functions, the data file format,
and so on
Working with
Processes
You begin designing a test procedure by selecting the processes you want
included. Available processes are displayed as icons on the Process Types palette.
You select the icon you want, drag it to the table, and drop it in place.
A test procedure may consist of a single process, or it may be more complicated,
containing multiple function generation processes sequenced with multiple data
acquisition processes. You can also create group processes and treat them as a
single process in your test procedure.
MPT provides an easy-to-use “drag-and-drop” environment for creating and
automating test procedures. With MPT, you link processes—including function
generation, data acquisition, events and triggers—to build virtually any test
procedure.
Connecting the
Processes
You control the order in which processes execute by connecting them with other
processes. Each process has a Start list box, which lists triggers that can start it,
and an Interrupt list box, which lists triggers that can stop it prematurely.
Defining Process
Parameters
For each process, you define the specific test parameters to run the test, such as
ramp time, end levels, and more. Different sets of parameters can be saved to
define several different test procedures—all performing the same type of test, but
with different frequencies, numbers of cycles, and so on.
Working with MPT
Variables
Normally, when you enter a value for a parameter in a process, you can change
the value only by opening the process dialog when the test is stopped and the test
procedure is unlocked. In this sense, the parameter value is “fixed.”
With the MPT Variables feature, you can associate a specific parameter of a test
process with a variable. This allows you to change the variable in the Variable
Editor without opening the associated process window.