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Case Study

Building the DAQAstra QC Test Bench — A Summer Intern’s Story

By Bradley Miller•

Hi, my name is Brad, I’m an electrical engineer intern at TransAstra, and I mainly support DAQAstra. This summer, I designed and implemented an automated system for DAQAstra’s quality control (QC) process! Each DAQAstra Mercury board must pass QC before it is delivered to customers to ensure all of its features work as designed. The DAQAstra engineers pointed out how time-consuming the old manual process was and how making it automated would free up a lot of engineering time.

The Goal

DAQAstra is built for data acquisition and control, so reliability matters a lot. My job was to create a system that could automatically test each board — checking analog inputs, digital I/O, communication, and power systems — while logging results for full traceability. The priorities were clear:

  • Automate as much as possible
  • Keep it modular for future hardware versions
  • Produce tests with consistent and logical criteria for failure
  • Record clear test report data for failure diagnosis

How It Works

Each device under test (DUT) is mounted to a fixture that connects to all of its power, I/O, and sensors. On the other end of the fixture is another DAQAstra board that provides all of the inputs and records all of the measurements for the DUT. A program runs through a sequence of automated checks:

  1. Power-on and current draw
  2. Communication handshake and firmware validation
  3. Analog and digital I/O verifications
  4. Serial bus verifications
  5. SSR verifications
  6. Functional loop tests (like control or actuation responses)

All measurements and results are recorded, with instant feedback if a test fails.

On the software side, I wrote a program that flashes a test firmware onto the testing DAQAstra and the DUT, enabling over-the-air communication with both units. That interface lets a computer send commands, capture data, and compare results automatically — no manual probing or spreadsheets needed.

Lessons Learned

  • Automation is everything: Fewer manual steps mean faster throughput and fewer mistakes.
  • Good fixtures save hours: Secure, well-labeled connectors prevent most “false failures.”
  • Documentation is underrated: Keeping pin maps, harness diagrams, and test scripts synced saved my future self a lot of pain.

Results

The new bench cut test time per unit down by about 90%, improved consistency, and caught early calibration drifts that would’ve been missed manually. If you’d like to see more, check out the video walkthrough we made of the bench.