News Briefs
-- Test & Measurement World, 9/1/2009 2:00:00 AM
Tektronix offers options for 10GBase-T compliance tests
With the release of its XGbT test-automation software and test fixtures, Tektronix has introduced what it calls a “one-button solution” for performing 10GBase-T measurements. The options, when added to the company’s DPO7000 series and DPO/DSA70000 series real-time oscilloscopes, allow customers to perform the necessary tests with a single instrument.
Compared to other test methods, which require an oscilloscope, a vector network analyzer, and a spectrum analyzer, Tektronix says that its oscilloscope and software option provides easier test setup and more repeatable results. This is especially important, according to the company, in distributed engineering environments where repeatable test methods are required across different groups using different test equipment. Tektronix says its solution conforms to 10GBase-T PHY electrical-testing specifications.
“The need for an improved 10GBase-T solution spans chip makers, product developers, and manufacturers around the world,” said Brian Reich, VP, performance oscilloscopes, at Tektronix. “With our XGbT software and fixtures, we are delivering an affordable one-button solution that can perform repeatable conformance and validation tests at the press of a button, making it ideal for both design and manufacturing applications.”
Jon Beckwith, R&D engineer at the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory, commented, “We are closely working with Tektronix to validate the one-button approach. Joint testing performed on a customer device shows that this method of testing correlates extremely well with the expected results.” www.tektronix.com.
Mentor Graphics acquires LogicVision
Mentor Graphics and LogicVision report that LogicVision stockholders have voted to approve, and the parties have closed, the merger agreement they announced in May. Former Logic-Vision stockholders will receive 0.2006 share of Mentor Graphics common stock in exchange for each share of LogicVision common stock.
LogicVision is a provider of BIST (built-in self-test) technologies for testing SOC (system-on-chip) designs. By combining Mentor’s ATPG (automated test-pattern generation) and embedded test-pattern compression technology with LogicVision’s BIST products, Mentor will be able to help customers address the test challenges of the digital logic and memory portions of their silicon designs as well as high-speed Serdes analog and DDR-based interfaces. LogicVision’s test bring-up and silicon characterization tools—combined with Mentor’s failure-diagnosis capabilities—will also help customers accelerate yield ramps, reducing time-to-volume.
“Our customers are facing significant new test challenges as they move to each new technology node,” said Walden C. Rhines, chairman and CEO of Mentor Graphics. He continued, “Combining our industry-leading ATPG and embedded compression with the LogicVision memory and logic BIST technologies enables our customers to maintain high product quality and test standards, while reducing manufacturing costs and improving profitability.”
LogicVision resources will be integrated into the Silicon Test Solutions group within the Mentor Design-to-Silicon division led by VP and GM Joseph Sawicki. The division also includes the Olympus-SOC and Calibre product groups. www.mentor.com.
Curtiss-Wright Controls debuts FPGA-based frame grabber
Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing has introduced the XMC-270 rugged, high-resolution frame grabber and video-capture XMC card, which the company reports is suitable for use in aerospace and defense applications. The XMC-270 delivers analog and digital video-capture functionality as well as serial connectivity through a built-in PCI Express core. A Xilinx Virtex-5 FPGA enhances the card’s functionality and permits it to be customized.
Available in both air- and conduction-cooled versions, the XMC-270 supports high-resolution digital and analog video formats, including legacy interlaced analog video. The card can transfer raw video data in a variety of color depths, including 8-bit YCbCr as well as 32- and 16-bit RGB formats and 8-bit mono (green only) format. It provides a range of video-capture features, including full frame rate, reduced frame rate (user programmable), and snapshot. The XMC-270 supports a range of video-capture inputs. Software support for the XMC-270 includes a capture driver, which enables a system designer to control the card’s hardware capabilities. This software can be used either in stand-alone mode or can be integrated with other Curtiss-Wright Controls’ graphics software.
Base price: $5683. Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing, www.cwcembedded.com.
LabView takes on software development
In the latest version of LabView, LabView 2009, National Instruments has added toolkits that focus on software design and validation and has also given users more control over multiple processor cores. Other new features focus on wireless signal testing.
The Unit Test Framework Toolkit automates and documents test-code validation by letting you enter known-good and known-bad values into a VI (virtual instrument), so you can see how your code performs with both in-spec and out-of-spec values. The Desktop Execution Trace Toolkit lets you trace the execution of a LabView application running on Windows. It detects and locates problems in your code that could affect performance or cause unexpected behavior.
The VI Analyzer Toolkit lets you configure more than 60 tests for automated code review and static code analysis of all VIs in an application. The tests look for proper documentation and code references that open but don’t close. The Requirements Gateway helps you manage software requirements by comparing requirements stored in multiple different formats to how you implement them in LabView code.
LabView 2009 also gives you additional power over multicore processors. For example, the parallel for-loop functions let you run for-next loops on different processor cores. Thus, you can make sequential processes run in parallel. Other toolkits for LabView 2009 let you test wireless devices such as GPS, WiMAX, and WiFi for standards’ compliance.
Base price: $1249. National Instruments, www.ni.com/labview.
Calendar
International Test Conference, November 1–6, Austin, TX. IEEE, www.itctestweek.org.
Vision 2009, November 3–5, Stuttgart, Germany. Messe Stuttgart, www.messe-stuttgart.de/vision.
Productronica, November 10–13, Munich, Germany. Messe München, productronica.com.
To learn about other conferences, courses, and calls for papers, visit www.tmworld.com/events.
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