Product Update

The handheld Pinger Model 60 lets you quickly check a network connection after you move, add, or change networked equipment. The instrument "pings" a network to verify proper connection, checks the integrity of transmitted and received data, measures network traffic characteristics, and measures round-trip times to network connections. You also can use the Pinger to detect duplicate Internet protocol (IP) addresses and to determine the media-access-control (MAC) address for devices connected to a network. If you need to track down connections to wall outlets, the Pinger can quickly identify virtual local area network (VLAN) assignments at a hub or switch port. Price: $349. Jensen Tools, Phoenix, AZ. 800-366-9662; www.jensentools.com.

Most handheld computers supply only three of the nine signal pins required in a complete RS-232 port. Now, you can add a full RS-232 port to Visor PDAs to collect data, transmit commands to instruments, exchange data with applications, or even test RS-232 serial interfaces. The DataGet cartridge slides into the expansion slot in a Visor PDA, and accompanying software sets up a variety of communication protocols. The software includes a driver that lets you develop your own software to control the added RS-232 port. If you turn off the PDA, an AutoWake feature turns on the PDA upon receipt of a serial transmission. The port operates at data rates as high as 115.2 kbps, and it furnishes a standard DB-9 connector. Price: $299. Tescina, Fremont, CA. 510-713-8001; www.dataget.com.

Manufacturers place great demands on machine-vision systems by forcing them into smaller spaces on production lines. If you face a similar application that requires capturing images in a confined space, consider the CDC-100 camera. This small camera, which measures 2.1x1.2x1.3 in., can produce high-resolution images of 1280x1024 pixels. At this resolution, the camera can capture 6 frames/s for moving objects and 13 frames/s for still objects. You can program higher image-acquisition rates by trading off resolution to reach about 180 frames/s at a 320x240-pixel resolution.

The camera is designed for use with the MVS-8100D frame-grabber board. The camera digitizes images internally and transmits them as digital data to the board. A proprietary bus and signal specification (CogLink) handles communication between the frame-grabber board and the camera.

The frame-grabber board plugs into a PCI connector in a PC and operates with as many as three CDC-family cameras, each of which provides 8-bit/pixel image resolution. The board supplies an 8-Mbyte buffer memory that stores image frames temporarily, prior to transferring them to the host PC's main memory. Because a vision system needs to control external devices and sense events, the camera includes an optically isolated trigger input and a strobe output. The MVS-8100D board also can accommodate as many as 12 bidirectional digital I/O lines.

Price: CDC-100—$1500, camera plus MVS-8100D board—under $4000. Cognex, Natick, MA. 508-650-3000; www.cognex.com.

TestBencher Pro version 8.0 adds support for mixed C++ and HDL test benches that make use of the TestBuilder library, a free, open-source C++ library that extends C++ for test-bench development. This library provides such verification capabilities as constrained random data generation, complex data-structure support, and temporal assertion checking. TestBuilder also can integrate C/C++ based models into a test bench. (See www.testbuilder.net for more on TestBuilder.)

TestBencher Pro provides designers with a graphical environment for rapidly generating system-level test benches composed of cycle-based or time-based bus functional models. TestBencher generates the low-level transaction code, verification code, sequence detection, error reporting, and file I/O code. VHDL and Verilog test benches that TestBencher generates can optionally be linked to C++ code via the TestBuilder C++ library. SynaptiCAD estimates that with the TestBencher/TestBuilder combination, you can build a simple C++ based test bench from the ground up in about 20 min. TestBencher Pro version 8.0 is currently available for Solaris, HPUX, and Windows operating systems.

Base price: $17,000. SynaptiCAD, Blacksburg VA. 540-953-3390; www.syncad.com.

Programmed Test Sources has introduced its Model PTS 1600, a 1.6-GHz signal synthesizer that employs direct analog and digital synthesis techniques to achieve 50-µs switching times. The 50-Ω output delivers +3 to +13 dBm. A TTL-compatible parallel interface port provides for high-speed remote control; an IEEE 488 interface is optional. The instrument features a keyboard and an LCD that displays 1-Hz resolution. The instrument employs oven-controlled or temperature-compensated crystal oscillators for 3x10^-9/day or 1x10^-9/day stability, respectively.

Base price: $10,000 (for a version with manual controls). Delivery: 12 weeks. Programmed Test Sources, Littleton, MA. 978-486-3400; www.programmedtest.com.

Agilent Technologies' Fault Detective 2.0 works with functional test systems to generate diagnostic information when a functional test detects a failure. It can diagnose large, high-density circuit boards as well as consumer products such as cell phones.

Fault Detective 2.0 employs Bayesian probabilistic modeling techniques to derive diagnostic data from the specific functional test results, from fault-coverage data, and from a priori failure rates of individual components. The vendor reports initial diagnostic accuracy rates of 80% versus 35–50% accuracy rates for technicians' manual diagnosis. Fault Detective delivers its diagnosis within seconds, as opposed to several minutes to several hours for manual diagnosis.

Price: $12,000 for 1-year developer's license. Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, CA. 800-452-4844; www.agilent.com/find/fd.

ScanWorks version 3.2 includes a cluster-modeling capability that helps improve boundary-scan test coverage for PCBs containing some components that aren't boundary-scan compliant. Algorithmic and database improvements cut test-development times as much as fivefold. The new version includes a node browser that provides interactive PCB access to support development of test programs.

In addition, ScanWorks 3.2 includes an improved design browser that facilitates the sharing of layout and schematic data with design-automation systems. Using the browser, which can extract device type and interconnect data directly from EDA files, test engineers and technicians without access to EDA tools can still access the design data those tools generated.

Base price: $25,000. Asset-InterTech, Richardson, TX. 888-694-6250; www.asset-intertech.com.

LeCroy, the fourth company to develop a Windows-based DSO, has taken the DSO to a new performance level. The WaveMaster 8500 runs Windows 2000, and it also has a 5-GHz bandwidth, with 20 Gsamples/s running on one or two channels (10 Gsamples/s on four channels), and an option for up to 48 Msamples of waveform memory.

The WaveMaster's architecture starts with four 10 Gsample/s silicon-germanium ADCs. These ADCs run at full speed regardless of the scope's time scale. Rather than slow the ADCs sample rate as time/division increases, the WaveMaster digitally discards data points to make the screen display. Following the ADCs, the WaveMaster converts incoming data into 10-Gbps Ethernet packets. Using the high-speed communications called X-Stream, the WaveMaster begins processing incoming data before its data memory fills. In addition, the scope stores waveform data in a memory cache, bypassing the CPU's RAM and increasing speed. The result, according to the company: no noticeable delays in processing data.

Because the WaveMaster runs under Windows, you can use Visual Basic scripts to manipulate data while it's still in the processing stream. The scripts create custom measurements that let you display information "on the fly" rather than after you fill the scope's waveform memory. You also can invoke numerous measurement and analysis routines that come built into the scope. Measurement tools include rise time, duty cycle, and hold time. The scope can display up to eight waveforms—raw signals or processed data—at a time.

You can expand the WaveMaster's analysis capabilities with three software options: jitter and timing analysis, disk-drive measurements, and a Master Analysis Package (XMAP). The XMAP package builds on the scope's fast Fourier transform (FFT) feature by adding frequency-domain averaging, which lets you measure power-spectral density. The package also expands the FFT to let you convert all data points in signal memory into the frequency domain.

Base price: Wavemaster—$54,990 (500 ksamples of memory on four channels or 1 Msample on two channels). Memory—$4990 (2 Msamples/channel on four channels or 4 Msamples on two channels) or $19,900 (24 Msamples/channel on four channels or 48 Msamples on two channels). Software options: XMAP—$4995; jitter and timing analysis—$2495; disk-drive measurements—$3795. LeCroy, Chestnut Ridge, NY. 800-453-2769; www.lecroy.com.