py_dvt_ate

ThermalATE: Coupled Physics DVT Simulation Platform

A software simulation environment that accurately models the physical coupling between thermal and electrical domains, enabling DVT (Design Validation Test) engineers to develop, validate, and debug characterisation test sequences without physical access to laboratory equipment.

Overview

ThermalATE enables offline development of ATE (Automated Test Equipment) characterisation algorithms by simulating:

• Thermal Chamber - Temperature control with realistic ramp and settling behaviour
• Programmable Power Supply - Voltage/current control and measurement
• Digital Multimeter - DC voltage measurement with configurable integration time
• DUT Models - Device Under Test simulation with thermal-electrical coupling (e.g., LDO voltage regulators)

Key Features

• Coupled Physics Simulation - DUT self-heating affects electrical parameters realistically
• SCPI Protocol - Industry-standard commands for instrument control
• Hardware Abstraction - Same test code works with simulated or real instruments
• Multiple Interfaces - CLI, programmatic API, and Streamlit dashboard
• Data Persistence - SQLite for metadata, Parquet for time-series measurements

Documentation

Document	Purpose
Requirements	Defines what the system must do
Technical Specification	Specifies how to implement the system
Architecture Decisions	Explains why decisions were made

Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/yourrepo/py_dvt_ate.git
cd py_dvt_ate

# Install with development dependencies
pip install -e ".[dev]"

Quick Start

Interactive Dashboard

Launch the Streamlit dashboard to visualise the physics simulation and run tests:

py-dvt-ate dashboard

This opens a browser window with:

• Live Simulation - Real-time temperature/voltage charts with physics coupling
• Test Execution - Run TempCo characterisation tests
• Results Viewer - Browse and analyse historical test results

CLI Commands

# Start the simulation server (TCP ports for SCPI instruments)
py-dvt-ate serve

# List available tests
py-dvt-ate tests list

# Run a TempCo test
py-dvt-ate tests run tempco --config config/tempco_test.yaml

Programmatic API

from py_dvt_ate.instruments import InstrumentFactory
from py_dvt_ate.simulation import SimulationServer

# Start simulation server
server = SimulationServer()
server.start()

# Create instruments via HAL
factory = InstrumentFactory()
instruments = factory.create_from_config("config/default.yaml")

# Control instruments using standard interfaces
instruments.chamber.set_temperature(85.0)
instruments.psu.set_voltage(1, 5.0)
instruments.psu.enable_output(1, True)
voltage = instruments.dmm.measure_dc_voltage()

print(f"Output voltage: {voltage:.4f} V")

Project Status

Status: MVP Complete (v0.1.0)

The core vertical slice is functional:

• Physics engine with thermal-electrical coupling
• Virtual instruments (chamber, PSU, DMM)
• Hardware Abstraction Layer
• SCPI-over-TCP server
• Test framework with TempCo test
• Streamlit dashboard
• SQLite/Parquet data persistence

See the requirements document for the full scope and future phases.

Technology Stack

• Language: Python 3.11+
• Physics: NumPy, SciPy
• Configuration: Pydantic, YAML
• CLI: Typer
• Dashboard: Streamlit
• Data: SQLite, PyArrow (Parquet)

Author

Kai Chappell

Licence

TBD