EE-Evaluation Engineering articles from April 2005

EE-Evaluation Engineering archives from April 2005

Teddy is watching your kid.(EDITORIAL)
April 1, 2005... At Microsoft's recent TechFest in Redmond, WA, company researchers displayed a prototype of a teddy bear with smarts. The teddy bear was one of more than a hundred projects on display at the event that is open only to Microsoft employees and a...

NI acquires design automation company.(In The News)
April 1, 2005... National Instruments has acquired Electronics Workbench, a supplier of electronics design automation software. NI will continue to operate Electronics Workbench as a separate entity in Toronto, Canada. www.ni.com/design/eda.htm

Data Physics obtains shaker manufacturer.(In The News)
April 1, 2005... Data Physics has announced the acquisition of Gearing & Watson, a U.K.-based manufacturer of electrodynamic shakers and underwater acoustic systems. Data Physics also markets Ling Electronics shakers built by Satcon Technology, which cover high...

Asian Companies join STC.(In The News)
April 1, 2005... Two of Asia's industry leaders have joined the Semiconductor Test Consortium (STC): Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, a dedicated semiconductor foundry, and Japan's Genesis Technology, an independent semiconductor testing company. The STC was...

HALT/HASS Company founded.(In The News)
April 1, 2005... Gregg K. Hobbs, the inventor of the highly accelerated life testing (HALT) and the highly accelerated stress screen (HASS) techniques, has formed HALT & HASS Systems to produce thermal and vibration systems in various standard and custom sizes....

ESD Device/Design Seminar.(Dates)
April 1, 2005... The ESD Device/Design Seminar, developed by the ESD Association's International Council on Education, will be held May 23-24 at the association's headquarters and training center in Rome, NY. It is intended for on-chip ESD protection designers...

2005 EMC Symposium.(Dates)
April 1, 2005... The 2005 IEEE International EMC Symposium will be held Aug. 8-12 at the Navy Pier in Chicago. "Experience the Energy" is the theme for the five-day program that includes technical and related business seminars, tutorials, technical papers,...

Clock Generator outputs 2.05-GHz square waves.(Product Briefing)
April 1, 2005... The CG635 Synthesized Clock Generator provides low-jitter digital clock signals for applications ranging from digital circuit design to communications network testing. The clock frequency can be set from 0.001 Hz to 2.05 GHz with rise and fall...

Digitizers deliver 8-GHz sampling rate.(Product Briefing)
April 1, 2005... The DC282, DC252, and DC222 PXI/CompactPCI Digitizers offer a choice of front-end input amplifiers with up to 3-GHz bandwidth or switchable high-impedance input coupling. The DC282 has synchronous four-channel sampling at up to 2 GS/s or...

DMMs feature 24,000,000-count range.(Product Briefing)
April 1, 2005... The 7 1/2-digit PXI/CompactPCI SMX2064 and SMX2060 Digital Multimeters provide measurement rates up to 20,000 reading/s and low DC current measurement ranges down to 50 pA. A 24,000,000-count dynamic range translates into resolutions of 10 nV....

ICT addresses productivity bottleneck.(Product Briefing)
April 1, 2005... The MultiWriter ISP System accommodates circuit boards and multi-board panel assemblies requiring on-board code programming and verification of serial bus ISP devices. It is available as an integrated element of a CheckSum-developed application...

ICT system offers operational flexibility.(Product Briefing)
April 1, 2005... The Agilent Medalist i5000 In-Circuit Test System delivers nonmultiplexed tester-per-pin architecture for stable, repeatable tests that can be moved from tester to tester, line to line, or site to site. The system offers a maximum of 5,184...

Arbs provide freehand sketch capability.(Product Briefing)
April 1, 2005... The Wonder Wave Series of arbitrary waveform generators, featuring both single- and dual-channel models, combines the capabilities and complexity of digital conversion and control with the signal integrity of synthesized analog generators. The...

Survey shows industry is stabilizing: some electronic professionals say the electronics industry is bouncing back. Does your own experience confirm this?(SALARY SURVEY)
April 1, 2005... After surviving the dot-com bust, massive layoffs, and jobs going overseas, the electronics industry finally is showing some signs of stabilizing. Job security still remains an uncertainty but this may be a reflection of a new work environment,...

LAN: truth or consequences.(Advertisement)
April 1, 2005... Agilent and other test vendors are launching LAN-enabled instruments, which offer an appealing alternative for system I/O. At the same time, I've heard some legitimate concerns expressed about using LAN for test, none of which should prevent us...

1.5-GHz bandwidth and 10 GS/s: product focus.(OSCILLOSCOPES)
April 1, 2005... It seemed a long way to travel just to participate in the introduction of a new oscilloscope. You might think that a conference call with the marketing and engineering teams involved with the scope and my editors would be sufficient to explain...

Delivering known quality die: different test strategies and methods at wafer probe and package test are needed to accommodate today's burgeoning SIP technology.(IC TEST)(Cover Story)
April 1, 2005... The consumerization of the electronics markets continues its rapid pace. According to a December 2004 report from the research firm iSuppli, the mobile communications, consumer electronics, and automotive integrated circuit (IC) markets will...

Synthetic instruments and LXI: Synthetic instruments may have found the common interface they require in LXI.(AEROSPACE/DEFENSE PC-BASED TEST)
April 1, 2005... Synthetic instruments (SIs), built from modular components and enabled by high-speed processors and modern bus technologies, promise test users increased functionality and flexibility, lower total cost of ownership, higher speed operation,...

A week with ROBOLAB: feel the thrill as your LEGO Mindstorms robot autonomously navigates a harrowing course.(TEST SOFTWARE EVALUATION)
April 1, 2005... Two things strike fear in the heart of an engineer: One is performing a live demonstration, and the other is competing with the creative design abilities of 12-year-olds. Kids think outside the box much of the time and succeed in trying things...

Testing techniques to improve relay reliability: proper selection and effective testing can increase contact reliability in the end product while reducing the overall cost of using relays.(SWITCHING SYSTEMS)
April 1, 2005... Who said relays are passe? While electromechanical relays have been switching electrical signals for more than 150 years, they continue to be the switch of choice for many applications. One primary application is in ATE where sensitive...

High-power DC power supplies: there's no need to risk the device failures sometimes encountered when using voltage-fed converters.(POWER SUPPLIES/SOURCES)
April 1, 2005... Switching power supplies in the tens of kilowatt power range have been slowly replacing traditional silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR)-based topologies over the past several decades. The advantages and disadvantages are well known. ...

Extending the frequency range of RF/microwave measurements: simple converters are the most economical and effective method of increasing the frequency performance in PXI-based RF analysis systems.(WIRELESS TEST)
April 1, 2005... Virtual instruments, also known as synthetic instruments, have become quite a talking point over the last few years. The U.S. military has seen the advantages of modular, lightweight, reconfigurable systems and awarded a number of contracts...

Exposing hidden faults: what you can't see can hurt you in today's high-density PCBs.(X-RAY INSPECTION)
April 1, 2005... High-density PCBs force tradeoffs at many levels. On one hand, if you must fit a large amount of circuitry into a small volume, your problem's solved. On the other hand, low-cost manufacturing and test are not compatible with high-density...

Monitoring test signal integrity during RF immunity testing: an accumulation of factors within a test system can produce unacceptable waveform distortion, casting doubt on the validity of the test results.(EMC TEST)
April 1, 2005... Present RF immunity standards do not stipulate waveform purity verification other than observation of harmonic content during system calibration. However, there are fundamental differences between the conditions of an actual test run and...

D-Subminiature Connectors.(EMC PRODUCTS)
April 1, 2005... A new line of filtered D-Subminiature Connectors features a filtered connector design to comply with FCC and CE Marking certification requirements. They are available in most configurations for the 9- through 37-pin versions and with Pi, tub,...

Rack Integrated System.(EMC PRODUCTS)
April 1, 2005... The Rack Integrated System for various EMC and EW applications includes a 50-W amplifier for frequencies from 0.5 to 2.0 GHz and 300-W amplifiers for frequencies from 2 to 18 GHz. It can be tailored to meet specific requirements for frequency...

Metallized fabrics.(EMC PRODUCTS)
April 1, 2005... Three new materials have been added to the company's line of conductive and shielding fabrics. NCPM80 (mesh) and NCPN055 (net) are polyester fabrics coated with nickel over copper for corrosion resistance and compatibility with resins and other...

SMD common-mode chokes.(EMC PRODUCTS)
April 1, 2005... Two families of SMD chokes, available in 1206 and 0805 footprints, eliminate common-mode noise in high-speed networks using the USB 2.0 standard or other high-speed differential signal-transmission applications such as IEEE 1394 and low-voltage...

Automotive test systems.(EMC PRODUCTS)
April 1, 2005... The NSG 5500 and the NSG 5600 are two new modular test systems for automotive applications. The NSG 5500 features capacitive discharge transient immunity testing available from one output connector and can be upgraded by adding plug-in modules....

EMC test system.(EMC PRODUCTS)
April 1, 2005... The KES 7000 Series EMC Test System serves as a conducted immunity tester that complies with ISO 7637, one of the EMC test standards for electronic components in automobiles. It also supports ISO 16750-2, which defines power supply disturbances...

Miniature chokes.(EMC PRODUCTS)
April 1, 2005... A line of ferrite monolithic surface-mount common-mode chokes provides EMI suppression on conductors such as PCB traces and high-speed input/output circuitry including network and storage subsystems. The chokes, smaller, lighter, and less...

Surface-mount shields.(EMC PRODUCTS)
April 1, 2005... The SMS Series of Circuit Board Shields incorporates true Knife-Edge surface-mount solderability for higher EMI performance. The shields feature 0.200" spacing as an alternate to the company's standard 0.250" spacing and are available with or...

Conductive gasketing.(EMC PRODUCTS)
April 1, 2005... Omnishield 1528 CG is a form-in-place conductive gasket material with typical shielding properties of 80 to 120 dB. The material, which exhibits minimal compression, fills slots, gaps, or holes around interfaces that would permit excessive...

Hand-held network analyzer.(COMMUNICATIONS TEST)
April 1, 2005... The hand-held N2620A FrameScope Pro Network Analyzer runs RFC 2544 performance benchmarking to measure the performance of network resources such as DHCP and DNS as well as file, e-mail, and Web servers. This single-tool approach tests 10/100/Gb...

LAN troubleshooting analyzer.(COMMUNICATIONS TEST)
April 1, 2005... The Linux-based EtherScope[TM] Network Assistant is a hand-held analyzer designed for installation, maintenance, and troubleshooting of 10/100/Gb Ethernet enterprise networks. It automatically determines the nearest switch, interface, and VLAN...

Antenna diagnostic tools.(COMMUNICATIONS TEST)
April 1, 2005... The SA-6000EX, the next-generation EX Series of Site Analyzer[R] Antenna and Cabling Diagnostic Tools, provides a diagnostic range from 25 MHz to 6 GHz. It features up to 300 stored traces, a source VSWR of 1.12 to 1.00, a VSWR range of 1.00 to...

Data timing generator.(COMMUNICATIONS TEST)
April 1, 2005... The DTG5334 Data Timing Generator and the DTGM21/31/32 Output Modules are new to the DTG5000 Logic Source family. The DTG5334 operates at data rates from 50 kb/s to 3.35 Gb/s with up to eight output channels per mainframe and includes 64M of...

Multichannel software.(DATA ACQUISITION)
April 1, 2005... AcqirisMAQS is Windows-based, standalone acquisition software that remotely operates multiple acquisition systems. It uses a PC or laptop as a client to control multiple digitizer channels connected to an instrument server, a PC, or a processor...

Digital I/O interface.(DATA ACQUISITION)
April 1, 2005... The USB-1096HFS, new to the Measurement Advantage[TM] line of interfaces, provides 96 b of high-current, logic-level digital I/O. The unit offers four independent 24-b DIO groups, each divided into two 8-b ports and two 4-b ports. The outputs...

Half-length A/D board.(DATA ACQUISITION)
April 1, 2005... The PCIDAQ 02M130 is a low-profile board that offers simultaneous sampling at rates up to 65 MS/s per channel or 130 MS/s on a single channel. Either an internal or external time base can control the input sampling rate. The onboard FIFO buffer...

Multifunction CompactPCI card.(DATA ACQUISITION)
April 1, 2005... The 78C1 is a six-module single-slot CompactPCI card that can include the functions of A/D (10 channels), D/A (10 channels), discrete I/O (16 channels), TTL I/O (16 channels), RTD (six channels), a synchro/resolver (four channels), LVDT/RVDT...

High-voltage I/O module.(DATA ACQUISITION)
April 1, 2005... The VT 1802 Digital I/O Module provides 120 single-ended or 60 differential channels that can be defined as inputs or outputs in 10 user-configurable groups. Each output group can be programmed to 28 V or 73 V, with up to 140 mA of drive...

Thermocouple datalogger.(DATA ACQUISITION)
April 1, 2005... The USB v1.1 version of the TC-08 eight-channel thermocouple datalogger samples up to 10 readings/s, features built-in cold-junction compensation, and covers the temperature range of -270[degrees]C to 1,820[degrees]C. It can be used with...

Portable anemometer.(ENVIRONMENTAL TEST)
April 1, 2005... The ATVS-NxT[TM] Hot Wire Anemometer supports up to 32 sensors for simultaneous, single-point air-velocity and temperature measurements in environments where single or multipoint measurements are required. The scanner operates with an embedded...

Continuity Monitoring System.(ENVIRONMENTAL TEST)
April 1, 2005... The Continuity Monitoring System (CMS), typically used with accelerated stress testing equipment, detects solder and connection faults due to solder cracks, solder degradation, contact degradation, misalignment, and oxidation. It simultaneously...

DC power supply.(INSTRUMENTATION)
April 1, 2005... The VSP 4030 High-Power Switching DC Power Supply offers as much as 1.2 kW with 20-V, 40-V, 60-V, and 120-V output voltages in a 19-in. rack-mountable 1U chassis. It provides output voltage control via manual tuning using front-panel mounted,...

DC supplies series.(INSTRUMENTATION)
April 1, 2005... The 62000P Series Programmable DC Power Supplies for ATE integration has a constant-power operating envelope, 16-b read-back accuracy for output current and voltage, and the capability to generate DC transients and output trigger signals for...

DSO reporting tool.(INSTRUMENTATION)
April 1, 2005... Lab Notebook[TM] is a built-in feature that automates the reporting capability and functionality of the company's WaveMaster[R], WavePro[R], and WaveRunner[R] DSOs, SDA serial data analyzers, and DDA disk drive analyzers. It saves waveforms and...

DMM and isolated digitizer.(INSTRUMENTATION)
April 1, 2005... The PXI-4071 FlexDMM is a multifunction device that features a 7 1/2-digit (26 b) DMM and a 1.8-MS/s isolated digitizer. It offers voltage measurements from [+ or -] 10 nV to [+ or -]1,000 V and resistance measurements from 10 [micro][ohm] to 5...

Hand-held DSO/DMM.(INSTRUMENTATION)
April 1, 2005... The battery-operated, dual-channel multifunction S2405 DSO/DMM features a 5-MHz bandwidth, a 50-MS/s sampling rate, and 50-mV sensitivity. The DSO section has 8-b resolution with a record length of 512 B for single-shot/glitch capture and 256 B...

Leakage current meter.(INSTRUMENTATION)
April 1, 2005... The Model 1855 Capacitor Leakage Current/IR Meter is designed for high-speed testing in an automated production environment or benchtop testing in R & D applications. The list of features includes a high charge current of 500 mA, a 1 to 650-V...

AC hipot tester.(INSTRUMENTATION)
April 1, 2005... The 1340 Hipot Tester provides 40 mA of test current, incorporates microprocessor control to increase reliability, and features an enhanced PLC remote control with a safety interlock. A user-selectable pulse mode allows the 1340 to continuously...

Device programmer.(INSTRUMENTATION)
April 1, 2005... The Model P804 Gang Programmer incorporates the company's Sigma-Blaster[TM] technology to program gigabit-density NAND flash devices. It features 216-pin driving capability for four or eight site gang programming using one or two modules. The...

Mobile data acquisition.(LITERATURE MARKETPLACE)
April 1, 2005... CEC's mobile data acquisition devices feature a pdaDAQ/100 with four SE A/D inputs at 50-kHz sampling and eight digital I/O channels. This cradle device interfaces with Palm Tungsten PDAs and is a LabVIEW target. The bt/100 has similar features...

Ovens and furnaces.(LITERATURE MARKETPLACE)
April 1, 2005... More than 400 standard ovens and furnaces with temperatures to 2,200[degrees]F are described in this catalog. Custom-designed heat-processing systems, too. Grieve offers laboratory, bench, cabinet, truck, walk-in, and conveyor ovens; clean-room...

Used equipment auctions.(LITERATURE MARKETPLACE)
April 1, 2005... Online auctions and classified ads for test equipment at LabX. * 100,000 + Items For Sale * 255 Categories Including: Oscilloscopes Power Supplies Signal Generators Spectrum Analyzers And everything test... ...

Data Acquisition Systems.(LITERATURE MARKETPLACE)
April 1, 2005... BLUECAT[R] New Horizons[R] in Data Acquisition Systems features 96 Dilbert Cartoons and 136+ pages of products ranging from data acquisition cards and systems, web-enabled devices, signal conditioners; multifunction; portable dataloggers;...

Low-level measurements.(LITERATURE MARKETPLACE)
April 1, 2005... The Sixth Edition Low-Level Measurements Handbook: Precision DC Current, Voltage, and Resistance Measurements contains tutorial information for accurate measurements of low DC currents, high resistances, low DC voltages, and low resistances and...

Horn antenna.(LITERATURE MARKETPLACE)
April 1, 2005... The AHA-118 Active Horn Antenna has an integrated preamplifier with a 25-dB nominal gain that improves noise performance for EMI emissions testing systems. The preamplifier is connected to antenna using an ng cable. The combination long cable,...

Adhesives and sealants.(LITERATURE MARKETPLACE)
April 1, 2005... Master Bond Inc., Hackensack, NJ, manufactures more than 3,000 grades of adhesives, sealants, and coatings. Line consists of epoxies, anaerobics, cyanoacrylates, silicones, and acrylics. One- and two-part systems are available. Master Bond...

USB data acquisition.(LITERATURE MARKETPLACE)
April 1, 2005... Acquire and log data in minutes with new USB DAQ devices with free ready-to-run datalogging software and driver software for LabVIEW included. The hardware has all the functionality to acquire and generate analog signals, read and write digital...

Frequency synthesizers.(LITERATURE MARKETPLACE)
April 1, 2005... This catalog describes PTS frequency synthesizers. With easy, fast, remote programming they're vital in advanced measurement or production systems & also serve as stand-alone test equipment. Options & accessories can be combined in a limitless...

Electrical safety tester.(LITERATURE MARKETPLACE)
April 1, 2005... The 4320 is a new 4-in-1 electrical safety tester from Slaughter Company, Inc. The 4320 provides AC hipot, DC hipot, insulation resistance, and ground bond testing in a single feature-rich and low-cost instrument. With its multifunction...

Low-cost Vibration Test Systems and Digital Controllers.(LITERATURE MARKETPLACE)
April 1, 2005... 100 lbf System $5,557 with Vibrator, base, blower, low-distortion linear amplifier, cables & hose. Digital Controller Packages convert PCs to Vibration Controllers--Sine $3,995. Random $4,995. 4-Channel Swept-Sine, Random & Classical Shock with...

Transient immunity testing.(LITERATURE MARKETPLACE)
April 1, 2005... A 38-page engineering guide on transient immunity testing now is available from Schaffner EMC. The handy reference guide describes the mechanisms involved in generating transients and tests that have been developed to deal with them to help...