EE-Evaluation Engineering articles from March 2005

EE-Evaluation Engineering archives from March 2005

Some feedback on implantable RFIDs.(EDITORIAL)
March 1, 2005... Apparently, my editorial in the January issue titled "Your Right Arm, Please" touched a tiny nerve in several of our readers. Quite a few took time out from their busy schedules to let me know just how they felt about implantable radio...

Two companies join LXI Consortium.(In The News)
March 1, 2005... Measurement Computing and Racal Instruments are among the latest companies to join the LXI Consortium. LXI (LAN extensions for instrumentation) is a next-generation, LAN-based modular platform standard for automated test systems. ...

VPI sells Floor Products Division.(In The News)
March 1, 2005... The Floor Products Division of VPI has been acquired by R. Steven Martin, Jeremy Williams, and Robert MacPherson and will operate as VPI Corporation. Mr. Williams had been general manager of VPI's Flooring Products Division; Mr. Martin and Mr....

IEEE EMC Symposium.(Dates)
March 1, 2005... The deadline is April 15 for submitting proposals for EMC hardware experiments and computer demonstrations to be presented at the 2005 IEEE EMC Symposium. These must be technical demonstrations and show EMC concepts and principles rather than...

Environmental test seminars.(Dates)
March 1, 2005... Hobbs Engineering will hold five environmental test-related seminars during April and May. The schedule in Minneapolis includes Comprehensive HALT and HASS on April 11-12, HALT and HASS Workshop on April 13, and Demonstrating Reliability...

Synthesizers speed switching time.(Product Briefing)
March 1, 2005... The MG3690B Synthesizer Series features six coaxial models covering a variety of frequency ranges from 0.1 Hz to 65 GHz, operational to 67 GHz. With the addition of the 63850-xx series banded waveguide multipliers, the frequency range can be...

4+32 Option enhances scope measurements.(Product Briefing)
March 1, 2005... The MS-32 Mixed-Signal Option adds 32 digital channel support to most four-channel WaveSurfer[TM] 400 and WaveRunner[R] 6000A Series Oscillo-scopes. It views 16 ADDR and 16 DATA lines of a 16-b microcontroller in one capture, time-synchronized...

PCI boards include DMA bus mastering.(Product Briefing)
March 1, 2005... The DaqBoard/500[TM] Series features two multifunction 16-b/200-kHz boards. The DaqBoard/505 has 16 channels of 16-b analog inputs, 24 digital I/O lines, and one counter input. The DaqBoard/500 also includes two waveform-capable 16-b analog...

Scopes boast third-generation SiGe ASICs.(Product Briefing)
March 1, 2005... The 12-GHz TDS6124C and the 15-GHz TDS6154C DSOs are new members of the TDS6000 family. Both scopes deliver a 40-GS/s sample rate on two channels simultaneously; a record length up to 64M is optionally available on two channels (2M on four...

Portable DSOs/MSOs feature 1-GHz bandwidth.(Product Briefing)
March 1, 2005... The Agilent 6000 Series comprises 12 portable digital storage and mixed-signal oscilloscopes (DSOs/MSOs) with bandwidths of 300 MHz, 500 MHz, and 1 GHz. They feature the patented MegaZoom III display technology, which provides real-time,...

Power Analyzer offers four input elements.(Product Briefing)
March 1, 2005... The Model WT3000 Power Analyzer has a basic power accuracy of 0.02% of reading; a bandwidth of DC, 0.1 Hz to 1 MHz; and a low power-factor error of 0.03% of apparent power. The data update rate can be set from 20 readings/s to one reading/20 s....

ATML--a new standard for ATE.(ATE TEST LANGUAGE)(Cover Story)
March 1, 2005... For many years, leading electronics manufacturers have searched for standards to improve-the way they share test-system and test-result information with the rest of the enterprise. Despite initial industry efforts to regulate test-system and...

Test optimization for a new product introduction.(1, 2, 3 TEST: ADVERTISEMENT)(Advertisement)
March 1, 2005... Being on call Do you ever feel like a firefighter during a new product introduction (NPI)? Most test engineers carry a pager or cell phone, with heightened anxiety, during an introduction. The fact is that you have so much to do in terms...

PCI = plug-in carefree interface: specifications not on a data sheet still may be important. Ask before you buy.(DATA ACQUISITION)
March 1, 2005... Although it may be nearly carefree, PCI really stands for peripheral component interface. Often, a PCI plug-in board is the best solution for data acquisition needs. Modern PCI boards come complete with self-installing software and truly...

Directional power measurements and the effects of directivity: knowing the directivity specification of your measurement device can go a long way in setting measurement expectations.(POWER METERS)
March 1, 2005... Directional power measurements are important when determining transmitter output power, transmission-system voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR), and return loss. The directivity of the coupler that forms the heart of a directional power meter is...

Instrumentation Buyers Guide.
March 1, 2005... EE's 20th annual Instrumentation Buyers Guide is a comprehensive, up-to-date listing of the companies that manufacture or rent instrumentation products. The guide is arranged in two sections. First is a product/company cross-reference. The...

FlexRay: the next generation in-vehicle network: cars with FlexRay networks are definitely worth waiting for.(AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONICS TEST)
March 1, 2005... You may have seen a recent commercial showing a car automatically correcting itself to prevent a rollover accident or perhaps a vehicle automatically braking to prevent a rear-end collision with the car in front of it. In recent years, the...

Yield: the key to nanometer profits: throwing layouts over the design-manufacturing wall doesn't work at 65 nm.(DESIGN FOR YIELD)
March 1, 2005... The very good performance of large systems-on-a-chip (SOCs) is counterintuitive given their extreme complexity. They work so well not by accident but as the result of great attention to detail, robust design, and extensive testing. With process...

HALT/HASS help shape robotic controllers: testing a product to destruction keeps it from breaking later in the field.(ENVIRONMENTAL TEST APPLICATIONS)
March 1, 2005... Failure is not an option for Brooks Automation controllers. A single field failure can cause thousands of dollars in lost productivity for their customers and warranty repair losses for Brooks Automation. The Chelmsford, MA-based company...

Using radar amplifiers for automotive RF immunity tests: it is vitally important that cars driving past airfields or close to radar weather stations do not malfunction when illuminated by a radar beam.(EMC TEST)
March 1, 2005... Over the last decade or so, powerful radar systems have been installed at airports and at elevated points overlooking aircraft routes. This national radar network upgrade provides enhanced air safety through improved aircraft location...

Broadband preamplifiers.(EMC PRODUCTS)
March 1, 2005... The PAM line of preamplifiers, frequency matched to test requirements, is designed to improve overall system sensitivity by at least 20 dB. Each preamplifier comes with a DC-regulated power source, or you can power the preamplifier with an...

EMI Test Receiver.(EMC PRODUCTS)
March 1, 2005... The ESCI EMI Test Receiver features an average detector offering modified time constants to meet the requirements of CISPR 16-1-1 in the 9-kHz to 3-GHz frequency range. Peak, quasipeak, average, and rms detectors are available for other EMC...

Fingerstock gaskets.(EMC PRODUCTS)
March 1, 2005... Track-mount fingerstock gaskets are available in a variety of sizes and platings and accommodate gap closures of 0.05" to 0.25". Suitable for bidirectional applications, the gaskets can be ordered as a single finger or in lengths up to 24". The...

Thermoplastic polymer.(EMC PRODUCTS)
March 1, 2005... Premier[TM], an electrically conductive EMI shielding PC/ABS thermoplastic polymer system, delivers 85-dB shielding effectiveness and 6 sigma molding performance. The nickel-plated carbon fibers have a morphology and dispersion that provide...

SM Ferrite Beads.(EMC PRODUCTS)
March 1, 2005... The BLM15E 0402 Surface-Mount Ferrite Bead Series operates in the gigahertz range and provides low DC resistance and high current ratings. The beads are suitable for a variety of applications including high-frequency filtering for power line...

PCB shielded enclosure.(EMC PRODUCTS)
March 1, 2005... A PCB shielded enclosure features a ferrite body and an RF absorber membrane. Two compact board-level packages have 366 [ohm] and 347 [ohm] impedance at 700 MHz. The ferrite body offers very high RF absorption up to 1.2 GHz with peak...

Medium-power Varistors.(EMC PRODUCTS)
March 1, 2005... The VC Series Multilayer Chip Varistors (MLVs) contain inductively generated transients (ISO 7637) and are load dump rated to 25 J. They suppress transients in hybrid vehicle applications such as regenerative braking, electric drive, and engine...

Immunity Test System.(EMC PRODUCTS)
March 1, 2005... The KeyTek EMCPro Plus[TM] Immunity Test System accommodates Bellcore, UL, IEC, ANSI/IEEE, CCITT, and ETSI testing capabilities and the requirements of the CE Marking. It provides 4.4 kV for combination wave, telecom, and ring-wave surge...

Portable Field meter.(EMC PRODUCTS)
March 1, 2005... The Smart Fieldmeter[TM] measures electromagnetic fields from 0.2 V/m to 600 V/m over the frequency range of 0.2 MHz to 3 GHz at a linearity of 1.5 dB. An isotropic probe provides omnidirectional operation, and the instrument can display field...

Filtered terminal blocks.(EMC PRODUCTS)
March 1, 2005... A line of filtered terminal blocks, recognized to UL Standard 1283 for the EMI filter and UL Standard 1059 for the Terminal Block (UL File No. E201344), comes with two to eight lines. These terminal blocks, part numbers 7602-551 through...

Noise Simulators.(EMC PRODUCTS)
March 1, 2005... The INS-AX2 Series Impulse Noise Simulators feature a motor-driven coaxial switch mechanism that eliminates the need to manually plug and unplug coaxial connectors. In addition to manual control, the simulator can be remote-controlled through a...

Shielded windows.(EMC PRODUCTS)
March 1, 2005... The FineLine Window Series offers shielding effectiveness of >60 dB, light transmission of >90%, and reflectance of [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Transient Generator.(EMC PRODUCTS)
March 1, 2005... The EMC-PARTNER MIG2000-6 Transient Generator, a test platform for MIL-STD-461E CS115 and CS116, now has the capabilities to meet the NATO Slow and Fast Pulse and DO160D Section 17.1's Voltage Spike Waveform. The tester features the resources...

Surface-mount filter solutions.(EMC PRODUCTS)
March 1, 2005... A new line of surface-mount inductors, low-pass filters, high-frequency filters, and power EMI filters provides EMI filtering in a small PCB footprint. The family, including several models in EIA 0402, consists of ferrite chip and power beads,...

Common-mode chip filters.(EMC PRODUCTS)
March 1, 2005... The PM0805CM and PM1206CM Series Surface-Mount Chip Filters provide common-mode impedance and noise suppression in signal lines. They are available in 0805 and 1206 footprints; the small size and low profile make them suitable for high-density,...

Dual-band amplifiers.(EMC PRODUCTS)
March 1, 2005... The Model 750TP1G3/200T is a 750/500-W pulse amplifier with a dual band covering the 1.15- to 1.45-GHz and 2.7- to 3.1-GHz frequency ranges. It provides the RF power to simulate the 600-V/m radar pulse requirement of the GM and the Ford...