Radio Frequency Test Set: An Ethernet-Based RF ATE System Designed to Test a Minuteman Telemetry Wafer

The LGM-30G Minuteman III Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) System is facing legacy test system that are becoming difficult to sustain. For instance, the Test Set Group, Electronic System (ESTSG) is a test set approaching end-of-life. The ESTSG is comprised of outdated test instruments, and test operation is manually controlled. The Radio Frequency Test Set (RFTS) is a test system developed to replace the ESTSG to system fit and function. A major RFTS function is to increase test automation of the Telemetry Wafer (TW) checkout at the system, and subsystem levels. This function inherently lead to decrease test time, increase reliability, and reduce sustainment cost. RFTS is designed as an expandable Ethernet-based test system that performs DC and RF test. This paper gives an overview of the RFTS design using the widespread Ethernetbased architecture for the Automatic Test Equipment (ATE).