Cable Tester-04 was a bespoke cable harness continuity tester Ambimat developed for, and supplied to, ISRO. It checked a harness against its intended wiring using interchangeable connector jigs, and it came with software that ran the test and produced the harness report. It is a historical engineering project, not a catalogue product.
Why it was built
In 2011 Ambimat took a contract for the wiring and harness of DC and RF cables for satellite panels at the Space Applications Centre, ISRO. Harness work at that scale needs its own test equipment, and a general-purpose continuity meter does not cover it: the operator has to prove every conductor in a multi-way loom, against several different connector families, and produce a record that can be filed against the build.
What the system did
- Continuity testing across connector families. The tester was designed with jigs for different types and polarity of connector, including D-type, SCSI and RJ-45. The jig is the part that meets the harness, so the same instrument covered different connector families by changing the jig.
- Extensible by jig, not by instrument. Further jigs could be made for other connector types and polarities. The unit photographed below carries a panel labelled “Connector Set-2”.
- Repeated sequential scanning. Continuity was not checked once. The tester scanned sequentially from one pin to many, and repeated that scan multiple times before generating a report, so an intermittent contact showed up as a failure rather than passing on a lucky read.
- Reporting in software. The hardware was supplied with software for automated cable continuity testing, harness report generation and related data aggregation, so the result of a test was a document rather than a reading an operator had to transcribe.
What this project shows today
Cable Tester-04 itself was built for its programme and is not held as a standard product. What it demonstrates is that Ambimat develops test equipment as well as the products under test: mechanical enclosure, connector interfacing, scanning electronics and the reporting software, delivered as one instrument. That work sits alongside the rest of Ambimat’s hardware design, manufacturing, assembly and testing practice, which covers functional and environmental testing including 168-hour burn-in analysis.
Related project records are listed on the AmbiSpace page.
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