Crystal Instruments Spider-80M MIMO Vibration Test Controller

The Spider-80M is a dedicated controller for Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) vibration testing and MIMO structural testing, built on the efficient Spider-80Xi architecture. Each Spider-80M chassis carries 8 outputs and is capable of 6-degree-of-freedom (6-DOF) MIMO vibration testing; one Spider-80M chassis can be chained with multiple Spider-80Xi chassis to form a system with up to 504 input channels, all sampled simultaneously.

Every chassis always holds a master module with 8 inputs and 8 outputs, which occupies two Spider-80Xi module slots in the S80M-A35-8N chassis. Up to six additional Spider-80Xi front-end modules can be inserted to build a system with 8 outputs and up to 56 inputs, with the input count ordered as 16, 24, 32, 48 or 56 at the factory. Because of accurate time synchronization, phase match in the frequency domain is excellent whether channels share one front-end or span several — cross-front-end channel phase match stays within 1.0 degree up to 20 kHz, suiting high-quality structural and acoustic applications. Multiple Spider-80Xi or Spider-80M chassis are synchronized over Ethernet through IEEE 1588v2, achieving nanosecond accuracy with a specified network switch, so every channel shares one time base.

Storage uses a high-performance removable 2.5-inch solid-state drive, shipped as 250 GB internally and upgradable to 2 TB, with data written in NTFS format. The SSD performs well under high shock and vibration, and a dedicated error-checking algorithm detects and avoids transfer and storage errors.

Software covers six control types: MIMO Random, MIMO Sine, MIMO Classical Shock, MIMO Transient Time History, MIMO Shock Response Spectrum and MIMO Time Waveform Replication. The platform suits testing that needs simultaneous controlled excitation from several points to reproduce true multi-DOF vibration environments, such as large structures, long test articles and multi-axis shaker systems.