Panther – Field Data Vibration Test Replication Software
Panther Field Data Replication Control delivers precision and performance in time-domain waveform...
Spectral Dynamics · for Panther and Lynx controllers
ShakerCheck: know the rig is right before the test begins.
ShakerCheck is the five-minute pre-test check for your shaker, fixture and instrumentation. It drives one low-level sine tone or sweep, measures every channel at once, and tells you which channel, fixture or shaker needs attention. You leave with a saved baseline and a printable PASS / CHECK report.
| Ch | Accel G | Disp in pp | vs Ctrl |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Table ctrl | 0.1000 | 0.00122 | Control |
| 2 Fixture NE | 0.0991 | 0.00121 | −0.9 % |
| 3 Fixture SW | 0.0502 | 0.00061 | −49.8 % |
| 4 Lateral Y | 0.0063 | 0.00008 | 6.3 % x-axis |
CHECK A CHANNEL · Fixture SW reads −49.8 %. Its mV/g is likely out by 2x.
Why it matters
The costly faults look normal
A bad rig rarely announces itself. It produces data that looks reasonable and is wrong, and you find out after the test time, the specimen life and the result are spent.
reads ×0.5, looks fine
A wrong sensitivity
Enter 100 mV/g where it should be 200 and the channel reports a plausible number that is off by exactly 2x. Nothing in the reading gives it away.
response flat, shaker changed
A degrading shaker
The control loop holds the response at the demand whatever the shaker does. The response trace stays flat while the hardware drifts.
mode unseen at control
A fixture limit the control point can't feel
A fixture can lose its usable range to a mode the control accelerometer never sees.
rocking, not translating
Cross-axis motion
Without knowing which axis each sensor measures, a rocking fixture passes as normal and a healthy cross-axis sensor looks like a failure.
What it measures
Every channel, simultaneously, live
One controlled sine signal: a steady tone held as long as you need, or a sweep across your band at the rate you set. Hold, walk or re-level a running sweep without stopping it. Output never exceeds 1.0 G pk.
| Reading | Units | Tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Acceleration | G pk | The response at each point |
| Velocity | in/s pk | Derived from acceleration and frequency |
| Displacement | in pk-pk | How close the shaker is to its stroke limit |
| Phase | deg | A resonance, as distinct from a change in gain |
| Transmissibility | ÷ Control | How much of the input reaches each point |
| Drive | V | What the controller puts out to hold level |
| Cross-axis | % of Control | Whether the fixture translates or rocks |
What it tells you
Answers a technician can act on
- System confidence. Controller, amplifier, shaker, fixture and sensors work end to end.
- Sensitivity check. In-axis channels must agree in rigid-body motion. A 2x error shows as about −50 %.
- Cable and connector integrity. A dead channel reads about −100 % and is caught at once.
- Fault isolation. The disagreeing channel is named, with its number.
- Fixture survey. Resonances located and listed across the band.
- Usable frequency range. Stated in Hz, with the channel that limits it.
- Baseline health. Today's run against one from a known-good day.
The insight behind it
Watch the drive, not the response
A healthy loop holds the response at the demand, so a softening shaker barely shows there. What changes is how hard the loop had to work. Drive follows 1/|H|: its troughs sit on resonances and its peaks on anti-resonances. ShakerCheck reads shaker health from that fingerprint.
todaybaseline, known-good dayIllustrative trace
15 Hz
shift in a first mode, in Spectral Dynamics verification on a known plant
< 2 dB
change seen on every response channel. A response-only check passes it.
9 dB
change in the drive. ShakerCheck flags it: CHECK THE SHAKER.
The same work showed why more than one accelerometer matters: on a test fixture model the usable range ended at 237 Hz because of a 300 Hz corner mode the control point never felt. ShakerCheck uses every channel you mount, up to eight on a Panther.
How it works
One guided check, in order
About 15 minutes the first time and 5 once it's familiar. The procedure lives in the app's help, step by step.
Set up
Connect, then fill in the channel table: name, sensitivity, coupling, role and axis. Exactly one Control channel, confirmed on the main window.
steps 1–8Confidence check at a tone
A low tone, typically 20–60 Hz at 0.1 G pk. One click checks every channel: in-axis within 10 %, cross-axis under 30 %.
steps 9–12Fixture survey at a sweep
Load a baseline, then sweep your band, e.g. 50–2000 Hz at 2 oct/min in about 3 minutes. Get resonances, cross-axis peaks and usable range.
steps 13–18Make the record
Add a note, save the run as CSV, and generate the report. The CSV becomes next time's baseline.
steps 19–22
Fixture F-12, monthly check – 2026-09-30 09:14
| Device | Panther |
| Excitation | 50 to 2000 Hz at 2 oct/min |
| Level | 0.1 G pk |
| Compared against | 2026-06-02 08:51 |
Verdict
| Check | Criterion | Measured | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Channel agreement | spread vs control – information for a sweep | NE −4.2 % | information |
| Cross-axis | below 30 % of control | Lat Y 11.8 % at 640 Hz | PASS |
| Baseline | nothing moved more than 3 dB | Drive +7.6 dB at 184 Hz | CHECK |
| • drive | the shaker-health signal | +7.6 dB at 184 Hz | CHANGED |
| • response | the loop flattens this | NE +1.4 dB at 190 Hz | information |
3. Drive – the shaker-health signal
Read this one for shaker health. A moved mode shows as a pair of opposite excursions bracketing it.
Sample report, illustrative values.
The report
A verdict you can hand to anyone
Every check ends in a self-contained HTML report. It opens in any browser, prints cleanly, and links to the run's CSV so the pair travels together. The banner names what to look at first.
- Provenance: note, date, device, excitation, level, software versions, baseline used.
- Verdict table: criterion, measured value and where it occurred. Drive and response are split, so "the shaker changed" reads differently from "a cable changed".
- Channel table: name, role, axis, sensitivity, last reading.
- Usable frequency range and the resonances in the drive trace.
- Three aligned plots: amplitude against target, phase, and drive with the baseline overlaid.
- How to read this: plain guidance for that run, for whoever reads it later.
It never shows a green banner over a failed row.
Built to protect the hardware
Safe for whoever is at the keyboard
- Won't start while Panther or Lynx is open, and stops a running tone if one appears.
- Won't output until it positively confirms nothing else owns the hardware. If it can't tell, it refuses.
- Refuses any level above 1.0 G pk instead of quietly clipping it.
- Checks the data-server version at startup and says so plainly.
- Logs every reading the controller sends, so any result can be explained later.
Thresholds in the open
Limits you can see and challenge
10 %channel agreement at a tone
30 %cross-axis motion
3 dBusable range and baseline drift
1.0 Gthe most it will command
These are Spectral Dynamics' own engineering limits; no published standard sets them. The report always prints the measured values, so you can apply your own. The 3 dB line is about five times run-to-run repeatability on the same rig (0.60 dB worst case).
Who it's for
Everyone who depends on the rig
Technicians
A guided, repeatable five-minute check with a clear answer.
Test engineers
Confidence in channels, fixture and shaker before committing a specimen.
Lab and quality managers
A dated, printable record of rig condition for every test.
Maintenance teams
Baseline trending that catches a tiring shaker before it fails a test.
ShakerCheck is the check before the test. It doesn't write profiles or replace the controller. Sine analysis is narrowband, so it catches dead and mis-scaled channels but not broadband noise. It gives you resonances and usable range; the engineering decision stays with you. For a full characterization of what the rig can deliver, see ShakerScope.
Questions
Frequently asked
How long does a ShakerCheck take?
About 15 minutes the first time and about 5 once it is familiar. The procedure lives in the app's help, step by step.
Which controllers does ShakerCheck work with?
Spectral Dynamics Panther and Lynx. It uses every channel you mount, up to eight on a Panther.
Is it safe to run on a loaded rig?
It never commands more than 1.0 G pk, won't start while Panther or Lynx is open, and won't output until it confirms nothing else owns the hardware.
What doesn't ShakerCheck do?
It doesn't write profiles or replace the controller. Its sine analysis is narrowband, so it catches dead and mis-scaled channels but not broadband noise.
Start every test with confidence.
ShakerCheck works with Spectral Dynamics Panther and Lynx controllers.
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