March 2008

EvaluationEngineering.com

Welcome to EE-Evaluation Engineering magazine's monthly e-mail newsletter, providing the latest EE articles, industry news, announcements, and more.

Free Temperature Measurement Tips from Agilent
Get the most out of your Agilent Test and Measurement Instruments. Don’t miss this series of measurement briefs designed to share tips and hints based on real applications and test scenarios encountered by your peers.
Click here to get the first series of measurement briefs, and information on how to get 10 FREE J-type thermocouples.

Data Acquisition There’s More to Data Acquisition Than A/D Power Meters Calculating Accuracy of Peak Power Measurements Cellular Certification Managing the Cellular Handset Certification Bottleneck Automotive Electronics Test Taking Control of the Integration Factor Environmental Test Applications Ensuring That Products Will Work Automated Optical Inspection Minute Components Challenge AOI EMC Precompliance Test The Case for Early Testing EMC/ESD Product Showcase Instrumentation Buyers Guide

New Software Environment to Quickly Set Up and Run Data Acquisition Systems

DAC Express(c) latest version includes auto instrument discovery. Intuitive GUI simplifies visual channel configuration setup of precision, synchronized, multi-channel distributed dynamic and static measurement systems. Repeatability is ensured via fully integrated signal conditioning, advanced CJC compensation, and end-to-end self-calibration. Combine with VTI's hardware for superior accuracy and repeatability.

Data Acquisition
Sure, you need to have sufficient A/D resolution, speed, and accuracy at the front end of your data acquisition system, but what about the rest of its specifications? You also have to consider analog output problems such as the loss of accuracy attributable to IR drops on long connecting wires and the use of remote sense connections to eliminate this error. Digital outputs also must be looked at carefully. They have limited drive current, which means that you may need to buffer outputs to drive heavy loads. And don’t forget output update rate, slew rate, glitch energy, current limiting, and direct confirmation or read-back capability.
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Power Meters
The accuracy of RF peak power measurements is dependent on a variety of factors contributed by the instrumentation and the test conditions. Users need to take into account the measurement uncertainty of each factor including the instrument, calibrator, source, and sensor. Equations or specifications for each measurement uncertainty are presented along with a typical peak power measurement calculation.
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 83 Machine Vision Applications in 5 Industries

83 successful machine vision applications across 5 Industries are illustrated in a comprehensive 28-page application guide. In Automotive: engines, chassis, parts, tires, glass and more. In Food/Pharmaceutical: packaging, labeling, and level monitoring. In Semiconductor/Electronics: wafers, BGA, and robotics. In Plastic/Rubber/Paper: sheets, sealing, residues, PET flaws and more.

Cellular Certification
According to one network operator, cell phones that had been properly certified suffered half the rate of dropped calls compared to noncertified ones. This article describes the certification process for devices within the jurisdiction of the PCS Type Certification Review Board (PTCRB) in the Americas or the Global Certification Forum (GCF) in Europe and other parts of the world. Details of tests specified by these standardization bodies differ, but in both cases a large number of tests are required, prompting the need for automated test equipment.
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Automotive Electronics Test
The instrument panels in today’s automobiles are extremely sophisticated and highly complex systems. They provide vital information on the status of the vehicle and enable the integration of consumer electronics including GPS navigation, digital radio, DVD players, and connections to phones and digital audio players. Because of the many visual indicators, testing the instrument panel must include camera-based equipment as part of the automated test system. Hardware-in-the-loop simulation with image-processing technology is what dSPACE, an ATE company, used to develop a test system for a 2006 Cadillac STS instrument cluster.
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Does your scope slow down with deep memory turned on?
Yes? You could be missing critical signal detail. The new Agilent InfiniiVision 7000 Series oscilloscope is engineered for the best signal visibility. Don’t miss subtle details even with deep memory, serial decode or digital channels turned on.
Click here to see the details in this 2-min. demo and free app note.

Environmental Test Applications
Environmental testing typically subjects products to stresses representative of the levels expected in use. Temperature changes and vibration are commonly applied stresses, but any parameters that may affect performance and product life are appropriate, including shock, humidity, altitude, voltage, salt spray, and dust. We discuss two actual environmental test examples, explaining in detail how the tests were conducted. In addition, the problems associated with fixturing small products for vibration testing are presented.
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Automated Optical Inspection
It’s fortunate that ground black pepper and the latest 01005 SMT components are packaged differently. Otherwise, because the 01005 parts are so small, it would be easy to confuse the two. The recent changes to AOI technology that allow accurate inspection of these parts are discussed. Typically, the user must choose a single fixed magnification that suits both 01005 and the other components on a board. The need to inspect very tiny components underlies a wide range of trade-offs between throughput and field of view.
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Solve your electronics manufacturing challenges.
Visit 500 exhibitors and meet thousands of peers focused on board, electronics assembly, manufacturing and test issues. Premier technical conference, 60+ full- and half-day courses, and standards meetings. Focus on advanced technology, RoHS, lead free, and SMT. Special Test Free Forum.
April 1-3, Las Vegas
www.goipcshows.org/

EMC Precompliance Test
It’s been well documented that finding product errors earlier costs significantly less than finding them later. EMC compliance issues are no exception. Because the required tests are unfamiliar to designers or not easy to perform on an ad hoc basis, EMC compliance failures occur frequently, causing both budget and timescale problems. Several precompliance test software applications are considered that simplify testing and minimize the chance of failing formal compliance tests.
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EMC/ESD Product Showcase
EE profiles the latest products introduced to control or test EMI and ESD in manufacturing environments. Included in the showcase are moldable plastic shielding, filters, and flexible shields for EMI control and an impedance amplifier, omnidirectional antenna, RF test box, magnetic field calculation software, and a high-power amplifier for EMC testing. For ESD control, floor tiles, wrist straps, ESD-safe bins, and ESD packaging are featured along with a burst generator and event detector for ESD testing.
Check out the product specifications…

Instrumentation Buyers Guide
Our 24th annual Instrumentation Buyers Guide is a comprehensive and up-to-date listing of the companies that offer instrumentation products. Included in the guide are arbitrary waveform generators, audio test equipment, calibrators, component testers, counters, data acquisition products, DMMs, electronic loads, emulators, function generators, logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, PC-based test products, power sources, power supplies, protocol analyzers, signal conditioners, spectrum analyzers, and telecom and wireless test equipment.
View the guide…

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