Signal Playback for Simulation and Stimulation
Conduant records at full rate for as long as the collection runs, and plays it back the same way. The unit under test sees the real data, every feature of it, and the identical data on every run after that.
- Replay at the full capture rate, up to 160 Gbps (20 GB/s), no downshift
- Play back for as long as you recorded, bounded by capacity, not a memory buffer
- Work against a fixed data set that repeats exactly, run after run
- Replay a field recording or a data set you generated yourself
- One system records and replays, over ODI, Aurora, Serial FPDP, Interlaken or 10G Ethernet
US-based engineers available.
Real data, and the same data every time
Development and test both need an input you control. Live conditions give you reality but never repeat, so you cannot tell an improvement from a change in the environment. Replay gives you both at once. Bring a field recording, bring a data set you generated yourself, or bring both, and the system reads them back at full rate, for the full duration, identically on every run. Conduant does not generate or synthesize the signal. It replays yours, exactly as it was recorded.
The real world never runs twice
Live conditions change with every pass, so a result cannot be attributed to the thing you changed. A recording holds the input constant, which is what makes an iteration measurable.
Models leave out what nobody anticipated
The value of a field capture is the anomaly you did not know to look for. A modeled input carries the features its author thought to include and misses the ones nobody predicted.
Long problems need long data
Behavior that only appears minutes or hours into a run cannot be reproduced from a short buffer. Conduant's playback duration is set by storage capacity, the same way its recording duration is.
StreamStor® Cobra Recording System
One platform records and replays. The Cobra reads a capture back out over the same interface it recorded on, up to 160 Gbps (20 GB/s). Nothing is regenerated. The data leaving the system is the data that came in.
Playback rate
up to 160 Gbps (20 GB/s), same as record
Capacity
up to 8 recorders and 256 TB in a 4U chassis, configuration dependent
Channels
up to 24 optical lanes, 48 fibers
Interfaces
ODI, Aurora, Serial FPDP, Interlaken, Ethernet UDP (10G)
- ✓Play back any segment of recorded data
- ✓Loop a capture to run the same data repeatedly and unattended, for regression and endurance work
- ✓Data moves out over the interface the program already uses: ODI for Keysight instrumentation, Aurora for AMD FPGAs, Serial FPDP, Interlaken, and 10 Gigabit Ethernet as a UDP transport
- ✓The SDK is C, C++, C# and .NET, and LabVIEW and MATLAB work through the C interface. The system runs commanded over a network link or cabled PCI Express
The capture side of the same platform is covered on the high-speed data recording page. Full configurations sit with the Cobra specifications, and capacity options with the storage and drive modules.
Four kinds of work replay drives
Replaying data into a system to see how it responds is stimulation, and it covers development as much as test. In every case below the principle is the same. The hardware or the algorithm meets data it will actually see, replayed exactly as it was captured, for as long as it takes.
Develop and improve real-time analysis and detection algorithms against one fixed data set, recorded from the field or generated in-house, so each revision is measured against identical input.
Drive a system under test at full rate with a recorded environment, so the hardware runs against real conditions on the bench. In aerospace and defense work that frees up range or flight time.
Replay the same capture after a change and compare behavior against a fixed reference, so a difference traces to the change, since the stimulus stayed constant.
Run the same input over and over to confirm it produces the same output every time, or loop for hours to surface faults that only appear under sustained real load. No operator resets the run.
The capture side of this workflow lives on the radar and electronic warfare and RF and spectrum recording pages. Record there, replay here, on one system.
The engineer who designed it answers the question
The people who design the systems are the people who answer questions about them, which puts the knowledge base right at the customer interface and settles issues faster than routing them inward from a queue. Conduant has been building recording and playback systems in Longmont, Colorado since 1996, with hundreds of installations behind it, and design, build and support all happen in the same building.
- ✓Record and replay in one system. The platform that captured the data reads it back out, so there is no second box to integrate.
- ✓Tested at rate before it ships. Assembled, run at the rate it was ordered for, and verified in Longmont before it ships.
- ✓Front-end agnostic. Sits behind and ahead of whichever instruments the program specced, from any vendor.
- ✓No layer in between. A support question reaches the design team directly, so the first person who reads it already knows the product.
- ✓Custom builds in 60 days, or 30 with parts in stock. When the standard configuration does not fit, Conduant builds to the requirement.
- ✓Made and supported in the United States. Systems are engineered, assembled, and serviced in Longmont, Colorado, by US-based engineers.
Common questions
What is a record and playback system?
A record and playback system captures a data stream at full rate, stores it, and reads it back out at the same rate to drive a test. The same platform does both, so the data used to stimulate a unit under test is the exact data that was recorded.
What is the difference between playback, simulation and stimulation?
Playback usually means data recorded from a sensor and read back out. Simulation usually means data produced by an algorithm or program and then read back out the same way. Stimulation is what happens at the far end of either one, driving hardware with that data to see how it responds. Conduant's role is identical in all three cases. You supply the data set, recorded or generated, and the system replays it at full rate.
How fast does playback read back?
Playback runs the same path as record, at up to 160 Gbps (20 GB/s). There is no downshift for playback, so a capture taken at full rate replays at full rate.
How long can it play back for?
Playback duration is set by storage capacity rather than by a memory buffer, which is the same thing that sets recording duration. A system configured for a long collection replays that entire collection. Capacity reaches 8 recorders and 256 TB in a 4U chassis, and the usable duration depends on the configuration and the rate.
Is this an RF signal generator?
No. Conduant does not generate or synthesize a signal. It is a data replay engine, and the data it reads back is the data you gave it. That data can come from a field recording or from a set you generated yourself for a simulation, and either way it replays exactly as it was written.
Can playback repeat the same data automatically?
Yes. The SDK supports playback looping, so the same capture can run over and over for regression work, or loop for hours in an endurance or soak run, with no operator resetting it between passes. Any segment of a recording can be selected for playback.
Tell us what you need to replay
Give a Conduant engineer the data rate, the interface and how long the run has to be, and you get a straight answer on the fit.
US-based engineers available.