July 2008

EvaluationEngineering.com

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Oscilloscopes Scopes Shorten Time to Insight Data Acquisition Maximizing Throughput and Accuracy Design For Test Improving Instrumentation With User-Programmable FPGAs Protocol Analyzers Understanding Gained One Layer at a Time EMC Test Evaluating Lightning Susceptibility PC-Based Test Buyers Guide LXI ConneXion Programming Options Tools for Developing LXI Systems Scripting Language Benefits of LXI and Scripting

Oscilloscopes
PC-based scopes are low-cost alternatives to conventional instruments, but can they do the same jobs? To answer the question, EE delves into the basic attributes of a scope by examining the specifications of several PC-based instruments as well as those of data acquisition and digitizer products.
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Data Acquisition
This tutorial discusses signal switching and DMM specifications and operation that directly affect accuracy and throughput. One way to guarantee high performance is to use an integrated system optimized for DMM speed vs. accuracy and switch settling-to-measurement timing.
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Design For Test
Instrument designers long have used FPGAs to implement special functions and facilitate future upgrades, but users could not program the devices. Increasingly, the latest products are supporting user access to internal FPGAs, enabling fast on-board hardware-based operations such as custom data reduction and protocol emulation.
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Protocol Analyzers
Protocol analyzers attach meaning to serial communications bus signal characteristics from the timing of the physical layer waveforms through the special services provided by the application layer. Analyzers with high-speed protocol-specific hardware, logic analyzers using pre-processors, and network performance monitors are discussed.
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EMC Test
The destructive force of a direct lightning strike must be avoided by diverting most of the energy away from the DUT through a combination of earth grounding, bonding, shielding, and filtering. Proven approaches and mil/aero test references are discussed in detail to support the author’s emphasis on testing to prove that a design will withstand lightning surges.
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PC-Based Test Buyers Guide
If you are looking for PC-based data acquisition products, arbitrary waveform generators, counters/timers, emulators, logic analyzers, power supplies, signal analyzers, interfaces, or software, our PC-Based Test Buyers can help. We list the products and the companies that offer them.
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LXI ConneXion

Programming Options
LXI supports unique test system capabilities, but you still need to write and debug a test program that detects, connects to, and configures several instruments. The pros and cons of programming and debugging procedures are discussed in depth for direct SCPI commands as well as for MATLAB, Measure Foundry, VEE Pro, and LabVIEW environments.
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Scripting Language
Scripting is a means of customizing an instrument’s behavior that improves throughput by distributing decision-making and computation across a test system. Compared to devices within a controller-centric system architecture, script-based instruments in an LXI system can perform custom data analysis and reduction on-board, determine program flow based on measurement results, and engage in peer-to-peer communications to execute test program branching.
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