Instrumentation
Instrumentation Features
Written by Paul Milo, Editorial Director August 2010
Rohde & Schwarz is well known in the test and measurement industry for its wide range of instruments including spectrum analyzers, signal generators, network analyzers, power meters, and others. However, in its 75-year history, the company has never ventured into the oscilloscope arena with its own brand of products. That is until now.
Written by Tee Sheffer, Signametrics August 2010
The DMM was the first instrument to benefit from computer control. RS-232 initially was used to communicate with DMMs, followed in the mid ‘70s by IEEE 488, which is credited with a long lasting impact on measurement automation.
Giga-tronics (Nasdaq: GIGA) announced today that it received a $1.1 million order from the Naval Air Warfare Center in Lakehurst, NJ, for its Model 8003 Precision Scalar Analyzer. The Giga-tronics Model 8003 Precision Scalar Analyzer combines a 90-dB dynamic range with the accuracy and linearity of a power meter.
Written by Tom Lecklider, Senior Technical Editor July 2010
The definition of a high-performance oscilloscope really is all about the customer’s point of view. Two scopes may have the same bandwidth, number of channels, sampling rate, operating modes, and memory length. Yet, one will be bought instead of the other because its software or triggering capability or measurement suite better matches the customer’s application requirements.
Written by Rick Garza, G Systems July 2010
A typical pattern generator-style test methodology (test vectors) often is used when testing digital devices to verify functionality, register access, and determine that read/write data meets design criteria. The tried-and-true method of generating a pattern, reading back device response, and then parsing the response waveform for a specific pattern match will yield a solid test system.
Written by Tom Lecklider, Senior Technical Editor July 2010
The term signal conditioning describes the processes intentionally provided in a signal’s path between its source and destination, typically within a measurement system. It’s a very broad term that may include excitation to a sensor or transducer; amplification, attenuation, filtering, and isolation of the sensor or transducer output; and perhaps conversion between analog and digital formats.
Written by Tom Lecklider, Senior Technical Editor
If you’ve been looking for more performance and value in a DC power supply or AC source, you needn’t search any longer. A wide choice of new products is available with truly useful and innovative features...
Written by Shari Richardson, QuadTech
Written by Mark Lombardi, RT Logic, and Integral Systems Company
Written by Tom Lecklider, Senior Technical Editor
Photovoltaic solar arrays are attracting a great deal of attention as a viable alternative energy source. Unless an array is used to charge a battery, the DC power usually is converted to AC to be compatible with home lighting and appliances. This is the function of one or many inverters, depending on the detailed design of the overall power system.
Written by Tom Lecklider, Senior Technical Editor
Photovoltaic solar arrays are attracting a great deal of attention as a viable alternative energy source. Unless an array is used to charge a battery, the DC power usually is converted to AC to be compatible with home lighting and appliances. This is the function of one or many inverters, depending on the detailed design of the overall power system.
Of course, long before large-scale or wide-spread domestic terrestrial installations, satellites used solar panels for electrical power. Different requirements for reliability, size, and cost are obvious distinctions of space applications as well as special needs such as resistance to cosmic rays. GaAs cells have high efficiency and are resistant to cosmic ray damage so are favored for satellite and spacecraft applications. However, at present they’re too expensive for general use.
Written by Tom Lecklider, Senior Technical Editor
Both the bandwidth and sample rate must be very high to have a truly fast scope. Silicon germanium (SiGe) has made possible the current generation of 15-GHz to 20-GHz bandwidth scopes. It’s interesting that some manufacturers have used DSP enhancement to glean a few more gigahertz, and yet another company has developed a bandwidth-doubling technique to achieve greater than 30 GHz. Nevertheless, further advances in SiGe amplifier performance most likely will only be incremental...
Written by Paul G. Schreier, Contributing Editor
Written by by Tom Lecklider, Senior Technical Editor
Data acquisition (DAQ) systems are key to automotive tests ranging from engine development to interior buzz, squeak, and rattle noise abatement. Overall, tests split into those that are performed in a lab, typically on separate components or assemblies rather than the entire car, and others that require the test instrumentation to be mounted in the car and used while it is being driven.
Written by Tom Lecklider, Senior Technical Editor
Today’s DMMs are differentiated by their feature sets and prices. Basic low-resolution meters that only measure voltage, current, and resistance are available for less than $100. High-accuracy measurement platforms with a wide range of options and accessories may cost more than $2,000.
Written by Klaus Lang, HBM
Requirements for data acquisition (DAQ) systems now are far more demanding, particularly where complex metrological tasks such as those found in the aerospace industry are involved. Not only are sample rates increasing, but the number of channels and the amount of acquired data are growing. Also, the times per test and the amount of personnel with good training are decreasing. These changing requirements can be grouped into two main areas: handling more data and achieving this more effectively.
Written by Paul Skoog, Symmetricom
-The IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol enables precise time synchronization over the packet-based Ethernet network so that the time on a slave clock at one end of the network agrees with a master clock at the other end. But, how precise?
Written by Tom Lecklider, Senior Technical Editor
The primary capability of oscilloscopes is to display waveforms. A real-time visual presentation of signal activity distinguishes DSOs from digitizers and other types of data acquisition systems. Nevertheless, a DSO acquires and stores a waveform as a series of data points, so it’s not surprising that application-specific software has been developed to process that data.
Written by Joan Mercadé, Arbitrary Resources
An arbitrary waveform generator (Arb) can be seen as a reversed version of a real-time DSO. Both instrument categories share the same theoretical principles applied to sampled signals. There are, however, some architectural distinctions that have resulted in huge differences in terms of sampling speed and analog bandwidth (BW) between these two kinds of instruments.
Written by Tom Lecklider, Senior Technical Editor
For decades, the venerable 10:1 passive scope probe has connected innumerable signals and scopes to each other. And, when neither the probe’s nor the scope’s performance limitations are exceeded, the displayed waveform accurately represents the input. In the 100-MHz world of the 1980s, engineers and technicians used this probe and scope combination with confidence. The results were even better when they remembered to calibrate the probes.
Written by Paul G. Schreier, Editor, LXI ConneXion
The number of vendors supplying LXI instruments continues to grow. The first to make introductions, as you might expect, were the larger instrument houses. Now, however, many other companies are getting into the action.
Written by Tom Lecklider, Senior Technical Editor
High-wattage resistors often are used as test loads for power transformers. Resistors don’t introduce phase shifts, and it’s easy to check that a transformer’s voltage regulation remains within spec at different rms currents. The effect of various primary tap and secondary loading combinations also can be measured. On the other hand, actual loads don’t always have a constant resistance (CR) characteristic.
Written by Tom Lecklider, Senior Technical Editor
By definition, a DMM measures AC and DC voltage and current. Most meters also handle resistance and some form of continuity checking or diode test. This level of basic capabilities is readily available in a 3½-digit hand-held instrument for as little as $8.95. OK, to be fair, that was an online sale price reduced from the normal $12.
Written by Steve Radecky, IOtech
Strain gages are sensing devices used in a variety of physical test and measurement applications. They change resistance at their output terminals when stretched or compressed. Because of this characteristic, the gages typically are bonded to the surface of a solid material and are used to measure its minute dimensional changes when put in compression or tension.
Written by Tom Lecklider, Senior Technical Editor
Even in the unlikely event that your test equipment budget has received a bailout, you still need to get the highest instrument performance per dollar spent. So it’s relevant to ask what capabilities are available in oscilloscopes priced below $2,500. Of course, the answer depends on whom you talk to, but low-cost scopes generally have continued to improve for a number of reasons:
Written by Tom Lecklider, Senior Technical Editor
At first glance, a multifunction data acquisition module may only look like a compact way to obtain the variety of functionality needed to address a particular application. Of course, it is. Being compact and economical are two major advantages of such a module. But today’s products also are much more advanced than those from just a few years ago.
Written by Bob Judd, United Electronic Industries
The vast majority of data acquisition (DAQ) and control I/O channels are fairly generic A/D inputs, D/A outputs, and parallel digital I/O. System requirements vary greatly, but the old 80-20 rule holds as well in the DAQ arena as anywhere. Eighty percent of the I/O channels typically are addressed by 20% of the available I/O products. However, nobody wants an 80% solution, so the remaining 20% of the I/O channels also must be addressed.
Written by Jonathan L. Tucker, Keithley Instruments
Like the California Gold Rush of 1849, the emergence of nanotechnology presents both an enormous opportunity and enormous risks. Just as new techniques, rewards, and challenges emerged during the Gold Rush era, nanotechnology exploration will inevitably lead to the development of tools to achieve new breakthroughs, the opportunity for creating enormous wealth, and unfortunately, the potential for environmental, health, and safety disasters. Although nanotechnology undoubtedly will create disruptive technologies that will spin off many new jobs, it also has the potential for displacing existing workers unprepared to take on these new technologies.
Written by Bob Judd, United Electronic Industries
The vast majority of data acquisition (DAQ) and control I/O channels are fairly generic A/D inputs, D/A outputs, and parallel digital I/O. System requirements vary greatly, but the old 80-20 rule holds as well in the DAQ arena as anywhere. Eighty percent of the I/O channels typically are addressed by 20% of the available I/O products. However, nobody wants an 80% solution, so the remaining 20% of the I/O channels also must be addressed.
Written by Michael Lauterbach, Ph.D., LeCroy
With the explosive growth in the use of microcontrollers, engineers who design products in fields ranging from computers to industrial electronics need to test and debug circuits that include low-speed serial data lines, high-speed data streams, or both. In addition, often there is a need to test and troubleshoot the timing of 8-bit or 16-bit wide address/data buses as shown in Figure 1.
Written by Tom Lecklider, Senior Technical Editor
It’s not for nothing that RF and microwave design have long been considered close to black magic. As in many areas of expertise, a few fundamental principles apply, but a great deal of engineering experience and judgment has been required to achieve results close to those that theory predicted.
Written by Phil Roettjer, Relay Testing Services
Electromechanical relays can be manufactured with high-frequency RF characteristics that allow them to pass and switch signals in the 7-GHz range and beyond with the proper packaging. Two key RF parameters are the insertion loss and return loss. These parameters measure how much of the RF power passes through the relay when the contacts are closed and how much is reflected back to the source. RF relays are built with a specific characteristic impedance to match the application, and an impedance of 50 ? is typical.
Written by Tom Lecklider, Senior Technical Editor
Separation of the elements that have traditionally composed a single instrument is a growing trend within the ATE industry. A good example of user-accessible modularity is the range of synthetic instruments currently being developed to address military test set obsolescence.
Written by Barry Scott, Hewlett-Packard
Written by Tom Lecklider, Senior Technical Editor
DMMs are available in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and capabilities. For automated test applications, modular PXI, VXI, and most recently, LXI instruments provide the flexibility necessary to support different test system configurations.
Written by Tom Sarfi, VXI Technology
Introduced in 2004, the LXI instrumentation platform has gained acceptance in the functional test and data acquisition industries as a viable communications bus alternative to GPIB for rack-and-stack instruments. To support the market demand, most LXI products released to date are Class C, the minimum requirements level.
Written by Mike Engbretson, Tektronix
If your company is at the forefront of the PC industry, by now you are probably aware that USB 3.0 is here. Controller chips are starting to ship, and you are already dealing with design issues around the specification.
Written by Tom Lecklider, Senior Technical Editor
A modern DSO does a lot more than just display waveforms. A particularly useful and timesaving feature is built-in waveform measurement. While you’re viewing the signal of interest, parameters are displayed that you have selected from a list.
Written by Paul Schreier, Editor, LXI ConneXion
More than a year ago, a few suppliers of LXI instruments were starting with LXI Class C to develop enhanced instruments.1 Class C makes up the core LXI features on which Class B and A instruments are built.2 Now the LXI Consortium has formalized such expanded feature sets in Version 1.3 of the specification, which recently was approved.
Written by Lee Stauffer, Keithley Instruments
Capacitance-voltage (C-V) testing is widely used to determine semiconductor parameters, particularly in MOSCAP and MOSFET structures. However, other types of semiconductor devices and technologies also can be characterized with C-V measurements, including bipolar junction transistors, JFETs, III-V compound devices, photovoltaic cells, MEMS devices, organic thin film transistor (TFT) displays, photodiodes, and carbon nanotubes.
More Articles...
- Nano-Measurements Need Mega-Care
- Digital Is a State of Mind
- Extended Analyzer Capabilities Blur Distinctions
- Satellite Testing Demands RF Link Emulation
- Selecting a Linear or PWM Power Source
- Sensors and Instrumentation Of the Superlative Class
- A Good Time for MEMS-Based Oscillators
- Data Acquisition Addresses Multifaceted Applications
- Scopes Shorten Time to Insight
- Nanotechnology Drives Battery Development
- There's More to Data Acquisition Than A/D
- Powerful and Portable DMMs For 2008
- Eight Hints for Better Scope Probing
- Wireless Sensor Networks Are Taking Over
- Matching Signal Grounding and Isolation to Applications
- Analog Signal Generators Updated
- Cabled PCI Express For Measurement Applications
- Emphasizing Serial Bus Signals
- The Art of Test System Development
- Keeping Cool
- Acquisition Without Discrimination
- Key DAQ Specifications
- 200 MPH Is a Breeze
- A Nanotechnology Test System
- Stimulating the Pulse of Today's Electronics
- Clock Recovery and Rehab
- Rationalizing Test-System Power Requirements
- Measuring Power Corruption
- Realizing the Potential of Digital Flight Data Recording
- 6 Digits Is Quite a Handful
- Another One Rides the Bus
- Taking a Signal to Bits
- FPGAs Make Retinal Disease Treatment Faster and Safer
- Synthetic Means More Than Nylon
- Fiber-Optically Isolated Instrumentation Application
- RF Measurement Basics for Non-RF Test Engineers
- The Art of Measuring Low Resistance
- Collecting Data Over an Area of 25 Square Miles
- Measuring Motion
- Digitally Controlled Power Supplies
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Instrumentation Industry News
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VXIbus System Specification Revision 4.0 Now Available NIWOT, CO, July 9, 2010 The VXIbus System Specification,VXI-1, Revision...
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Change at the Helm of Rohde & Schwarz: Manfred Fleischmann Succeeds Michael Vohrer MUNICH, GERMANY, July 5, 2010 After a career spanning 35 years with...
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