NTDS Interface Analyzer™ (NIA –II)

An essential tool for development, maintenance and analysis of NTDS systems

Easily captures and display NTDS data transfers with nanosecond accuracy

• Monitors System Performance
• Debug New Software
• Evaluate Timing and Sequence
• Collect Data
• Integrate New Equipment

Sabtech’s NIA-II is a powerful, yet easy-to-use tool that provides the visibility that is essential to quickly analyze interface timing relationships, message protocols, throughput, and data integrity on all types of NTDS interfaces. It can monitor any combination of MIL-STD-1397C NTDS Parallel Type A, B, C, H, or NTDS Serial D, E channels. It connects to the input and output cables of an NTDS channel and passively “listens” to communications without interference. Each word is time-stamped with a resolution down to 125 nanoseconds ensuring highly accurate measurements of real-time performance. Data collected by the NIA-II is stored in files that can be viewed immediately or retained for later analysis. Data files can be copied and transmitted electronically to remote sites, enabling remote troubleshooting, immediate event reconstruction, or time-critical feedback on system performance.

Capture Modes

There are two capture modes, Buffer Capture and Continuous Capture. Buffer Capture mode provides a snapshot with a user-specified number of words before and after a trigger event. Buffer sizes are selectable from 128 to 32,000 32-bit words. Continuous Capture mode continuously streams data to disk until stopped manually or by a trigger event, or after a specific number of words.

Triggering

Data is collected on all active channels, with any one channel used for the trigger. The trigger is entered as a 32-bit word in binary, hexadecimal or octal format (with X = don’t care). The trigger is then set to match on data, External Interrupt (EI), External Function (EF), forced EI/EF or any word type matching the trigger pattern. NTDS Serial Type E channels can also trigger on parity error, Sink timing error, or both. In Buffer Capture mode, the trigger point can be positioned within a fixed-size buffer to collect 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% of pre-trigger data to optimize the view around the trigger event. Continuous Capture mode can be configured to start data collection on the trigger, stop collection on the trigger, or start and stop on successive occurrences of a trigger.

Data Display

The NIA-II has an easy-to-use graphical user interface that allows custom views of captured data. Data can be displayed or printed in binary, hexadecimal or octal format. Customizable colors distinguish various words types such as commands, data, triggers, and errors. Individual channels can be selected or deselected for display and various filters can be applied to display only words of a certain type or those matching a specified pattern. The data search function eliminates time-consuming manual searches.

The display can be further customized to show timing relationships relative to real time, time offset from the trigger, delta time between words, or the actual time stamp value. A set of pointers may be positioned to display the time difference between any two words in the captured data.