EE-Evaluation Engineering articles from January 2006

EE-Evaluation Engineering archives from January 2006

They only get one shot.(EDITORIAL)
January 1, 2006... Troops on patrol seeking out insurgents hiding in hostile towns and cities soon may have a new weapon in their arsenal although this one is more like a hunting dog that points once it has discovered the prey. Not a canine, this weapon is a...

ASSET hosts online boundary scan validation.(In The News)
January 1, 2006... ASSET[R] InterTech has developed a free online service that validates the accuracy of boundary scan description language (BSDL) files that describe the boundary scan characteristics of semiconductor devices. ASSET collaborated with Agilent...

EADS North America acquires Talon Instruments.(In The News)
January 1, 2006... EADS North America has acquired Talon Instruments, a California-based company that specializes in digital test instrumentation. It will become part of EADS North America Defense Test & Services. Talon Instruments develops and manufactures...

APEX conference and exhibition.(Dates)
January 1, 2006... IPC Printed Circuits Expo, APEX, and the Designers Summit, a three-day technical conference covering issues affecting the electronics industry's entire supply chain, will take place Feb. 8-10 at the Anaheim Convention Center. This year's...

ESTECH 2006.(Dates)
January 1, 2006... ESTECH 2006, the annual technical meeting and exposition for the Institute of Environmental Sciences and Technology (IEST), will be held May 7-10 at the Hyatt Regency Phoenix in Phoenix, AZ. A new certificate program, along with a variety of...

Data Acquisition.(Corrigendum)(Correction Notice)
January 1, 2006... In the Data Acquisition article "Performance More Than Bits and Megahertz" in the December issue, an error appeared on the computer screen reproduction on page 24. The line should read: 96 dB Spurious Free Dynamic Range.

Index of Advertisers.(Corrigendum)(Correction Notice)
January 1, 2006... In the Index of Advertisers in the December issue, Acqiris was misspelled. The company's advertisement appears on page 29.

ATE Systems for PCBs are reconfigurable.(Product Briefing)
January 1, 2006... The 5800 Series ATE System features an open hardware and software architecture and reconfigurable pinface styles to combine analog in-circuit testing with 3,456 test points, high-integrity functional testing, and systems test in one test...

Boundary scan-controlled module tests LVDSs.(Product Briefing)
January 1, 2006... The ScanIO-300LV Digital I/O Module turns an IEEE 1149.1 boundary scan controller into a digital interconnect and functional tester. It uses boundary scan-compatible ASICs to add control and visibility to connectors, traces, and logic that...

Modules extend power system to 1,200 W.(Product Briefing)
January 1, 2006... Four new modules and two mainframes increase the range of the Agilent rack-mountable N6700 Modular Power System (MPS) to 1,200 W. The system-ready test instrument complies with LXI Class C; offers USB 2.0, 10/100Base-T Ethernet, and GPIB...

TAP connection provides long-distance testing.(Product Briefing)
January 1, 2006... The GbE TapCommunicator[TM] is a portable, long-distance TAP connection for remote, high-fidelity communications of boundary scan test vectors and device programming data using existing communications links. Based on TapSpacer[R] technology, it...

DDS generator stores five user-defined waveforms.(Product Briefing)
January 1, 2006... The Model 271 Direct Digital Synthesis Function Generator with arbitrary waveform capabilities produces sine, square, and pulse waveforms over the 0.1-mHz to 10-MHz frequency range. Triangle waveforms, ramp waveforms, and multilevel square...

Bus analyzer decodes CAN in symbolic format.(Product Briefing)
January 1, 2006... The Vehicle Bus Analyzer (VBA), available in 500-MHz and 1-GHz models, decodes CAN serial data into symbolic (application layer) text. It combines symbolic, hex, and electrical signal information with the capability to view additional...

Capturing and evaluating high-frequency signals: coherent interleaved sampling is a new technique that can acquire data faster with more data points than sequential sampling.(OSCILLOSCOPES)
January 1, 2006... Engineers who need to characterize semiconductor devices, highspeed clocks, fast serial data streams, and other electronic or optical devices that produce high-frequency signals have used sampling oscilloscopes for many years. Now there is new...

Readers honor seven products as best of 2005.(READERS' CHOICE AWARDS)
January 1, 2006... When it comes to recognizing the best, we turn to our readers. EE--Evaluation Engineering's 12th annual Readers' Choice Awards is no exception. We appreciate all the readers who took time from their very busy schedule to vote for the best...

Making metal strip-stock flatter.(DATA ACQUISITION)
January 1, 2006... For companies running cold rolling mills that produce metal strip for a multitude of uses--from razor blades, to cans for foodstuffs, to automobile fenders--monitoring the flatness of the mill's output product is very important. Without careful...

Communications test advances: modular test instruments can solve development, commissioning, and troubleshooting budget conflicts.(COMMUNICATIONS TEST)
January 1, 2006... Based on the volume of specialized test equipment introduced in 2005, the communications industry must be thriving. Instruments addressing optical fiber, copper, and wireless components and networks cover product development, installation,...

The finer points of test: test-fixture and probe manufacturers need the help of many technologies to bridge the gap between today's and tomorrow's design and test engineering needs.(BOARD ATE)
January 1, 2006... Trends in PCB designs--the push for quicker time to market and skyrocketing complexity, shrinking targets for bed-of-nails test, the loss of access to test nodes, and other technical challenges--show no signs of slowing. At the same time,...

8-slot 3U PXI/CompactPCI instrument chassis with power module.(Advertisement)
January 1, 2006... The PXIS-2630 Series is a 19" 3U PXI chassis providing seven PXI peripheral slots in a system. The chassis are compliant with the PXI and CompactPCI specifications and compatible with both PXI and CompactPCI modules. The PXIS-2630 is equipped...

6-slot 3U PXI/CompactPCI instrument chassis with power module.(Advertisement)
January 1, 2006... The PXIS-2506 is a 3U 6-slot portable PXI chassis with five PXI/CompactPCI peripherals slots. It is compliant with the PXI and CompactPCI specifications and can be used with both PXI and CompactPCI modules. The internal 10MHz reference clock is...

A series of multi-channel relay outputs & isolated DI cards.(Advertisement)
January 1, 2006... The PCI-725x Series of four cards supports a 32-bit 3.3V or 5V PCI bus and features relay output status read-back, on-board LED indicators for relay status and on-board relay driving circuits. The PCI-7250 and PCI-7251 provide 8-CH relay...

3U PXI Pentium M system controller with VGA/GbE/CF.(Advertisement)
January 1, 2006... The PXI-3800 is designed to meet the highest performance requirements for embedded computing. This system controller complies with PXI specifications Rev. 2.1 and features many new technologies such as up to 1.8 GHz Pentium[R] M CPU support,...

Trends in vibration test: random vibration testing provides energy simultaneously at all frequencies.(VIBRATION TEST)
January 1, 2006... Vibration testing can help ensure that your new design will survive its intended environment. The problem is knowing how much and what type of vibration to apply. The power spectral density (PSD) of random test vibration is defined by an...

Test Labs/Services Buyers Guide.(A-X)(Buyers Guide)
January 1, 2006... EE's 37th annual Test Labs/Services Buyers Guide is a comprehensive, up-to-date listing of the companies that offer testing and consulting services to the electronics industry. The guide is arranged in two sections. First is a...

Test Labs/Services Buyers Guide.(A-Z)(Buyers Guide)
January 1, 2006... Company Guide A.T.E. Solutions CA, Los Angeles 310-641-8400 www.besttest.com Accolade Engineering Solutions CA, Irvine 949-597-8378 www.accoladeeng.com Advanced Compliance Solutions GA, Buford 770-831-8048...

Removable shielding technologies for PCBs: you must be very creative today to effectively match the shielding solution to the size of the components and circuits on the PCB.(EMC SHIELDING APPLICATIONS)
January 1, 2006... Today's RF engineers are faced with new challenges when designing wireless communications devices. Modern cell phones have incorporated many features such as cameras, large multimedia displays, and multifrequency and multimode operation in...

Relay Output Card.(ATE)
January 1, 2006... The PCI-7260 Relay Output Card for automation and machine control has eight channels that switch 5-A currents at 250 VAC or 30 VDC. Eight isolated digital input channels with debouncing circuits eliminate signal interference. Trace space, trace...

Device Programming System.(ATE)
January 1, 2006... The PS588 Automated Off-Line Production Programming System handles high-volume, high-mix device programming. Throughput is 1,400 devices/h. The Auto-Teach feature automatically finds the center of a device, simplifying the process of setting...

PXI switch modules.(ATE)
January 1, 2006... The first release of the Adapt-a-Switch[R] product line includes 11 switch modules for use in the PXI/cPCI test environment. Four versions of the 1260-1114 modules have 96 TTL, CMOS, or open-collector (OC) I/Os or 48 high-voltage/high-current...

PXI RF test module.(COMMUNICATIONS TEST)
January 1, 2006... The 3025 RF Signal Generator together with the 3010 RF Synthesizer forms a compact precision digital RF signal generator occupying three slots in a 3U PXI chassis. The two-slot wide module produces IQ modulated or CW signals between 86 MHz and...

MIMO Channel Emulator.(COMMUNICATIONS TEST)
January 1, 2006... The Azimuth Channel Emulator (ACE[TM]) 400NB reproduces 4X4 multipath environments with channel correlation to test multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) or single-input-single-output (SISO) solutions. The purpose-built 802.11 stand-alone...

Protocol Analyzer.(COMMUNICATIONS TEST)
January 1, 2006... The Wireless USB Explorer 300 Protocol Analyzer with an air interface records and decodes WiMedia ultrawide-band and certified wireless USB protocols from wireless or direct connection. It can record traffic exchanged over the air between...

Monitoring/control software.(SOFTWARE)
January 1, 2006... DASYLab Version 9.0 of the company's Windows-based graphical data acquisition software features an updated user interface, improved online help and interactive tutorial, and more than 150 examples to help accelerate setup and development of...

Transient Generator.(INSTRUMENTATION)
January 1, 2006... The TGAR Transient Generator System, consisting of the TG6083BU, TG6083PS, TG6083AS, and TG6000LD, meets the requirements of ISO 7637-2 and SAE J1113-11 International Automotive Standards and those of Ford, DaimlerChrysler, and General Motors....

Power supply with Ethernet.(INSTRUMENTATION)
January 1, 2006... The SPSE is a 1.2-kW programmable switching power supply with a functional keypad and an embedded Ethernet interface. Its output ranges from 8 to 600 VDC and 2 to 150 ADC. The SPSE offers several device connection options and custom...

Digital multimeters.(INSTRUMENTATION)
January 1, 2006... The 300 Series DMMs come in three models: the EX310, EX320, and EX330, all with built-in voltage detection. The EX330 has a 4,000-count display and includes measurements for temperature, capacitance, frequency, and duty cycle. All models...

Universal waveform generators.(INSTRUMENTATION)
January 1, 2006... The 39x Series of 125-MS/s, 14-b resolution universal waveform generators provides 16,384 output levels. The Model 396 single-channel and Model 397 dual-channel generators include 11 basic waveforms with adjustable parameters accessible from...

DSP Gaussmeters.(INSTRUMENTATION)
January 1, 2006... The Model 455 Gaussmeter features digital signal processing (DSP) technology, a DC to 20-kHz AC frequency response, peak field detection to 50-[micro]s pulse widths, DC accuracy of 0.075%, 5 3/4 digits of display resolution, and temperature...

DDS signal generator.(INSTRUMENTATION)
January 1, 2006... The 408A is a 100-MHz direct digital synthesized signal generator in a tabletop shielded enclosure. It generates sine/cosine and ACMOS/TTL output signals simultaneously up to 100 MHz in 1-[micro]Hz steps under serial control. The RS-232...

Multifunction Generator.(INSTRUMENTATION)
January 1, 2006... The Model 4051 Programmable Multifunction Generator features an 80-W triple-output DC switching power supply, a 35-MHz universal logic probe, an autoranging frequency counter, and a digital voltmeter. Using a 115-VAC power source, it can...

PCI arb cards.(PC TEST)
January 1, 2006... The CompuGen family of PCI arbitrary waveform generator cards, comprising the CompuGen 11G, 4300, and 8150, offers 12-b resolution at D/A conversion rates of up to 1 billion S/s. The arbitrary waveform generator and function generator cards...

Programmable Amplifier.(PC TEST)
January 1, 2006... The PXI-based 41-650 Programmable Amplifier allows a test system to generate signals up to 60 Vpk-pk and capture signals up to [+ or -]600 V. The five-channel voltage amplifier is suitable for increasing the output voltage from other PXI...

Ethernet-based I/O system.(DATA ACQUISITION)
January 1, 2006... PowerDNA Cubes, compact, I/O subsystems that can be distributed and linked via Ethernet, feature a mixture of up to 144 analog or 288 digital I/O channels in a 4" X 4" X 4" or 4" X 4" X 6" enclosure. The cubes have been upgraded to include a...

USB modules.(DATA ACQUISITION)
January 1, 2006... The DT9813-10V and the DT9814-10V are high-input channel data acquisition modules joining the company's ECONseries for USB 2.0. The modules offer 12-b resolution for A/D and D/A precision measurements, a 50-kS/s throughput rate, and a bipolar...

Airborne Recording System.(DATA ACQUISITION)
January 1, 2006... The D7000 Airborne Data Acquisition and Recording System features adaptable signal interfacing and interchangeable media cartridges to accommodate direct replacement of legacy video and data recorders. It includes a 256 Mb/s total system data...

Vibration system.(ENVIRONMENTAL TEST)
January 1, 2006... The DS-2250 Shaker with a 12" dia magnesium armature provides acceleration levels up to 100g, supports payloads up to 500 lb, and offers velocity up to 100 ips. The compact vibration system, air-cooled and compatible with environmental test...