Product Update

The TFX-11v2 Tattletale Flash express embedded datalogger/controller provides 19 analog channels (11 with 12-bit resolution and eight with 8-bit resolution) and 24 digital channels (16 I/O and eight input-only lines). It operates at sampling rates to 6.4 kHz, provides two UART functions (one implemented in software), and includes 2 Mbytes of flash EEPROM memory. Measuring 1.2x2.75x0.5 in., it draws less than 100 µA in low-power mode; it can deliver up to 150 mA to handle data-acquisition and control tasks. It's programmable by means of the vendor's Windows-based TFTools development environment. Prices: TFX-11v2—$275; development environment—$195. Onset Computer, Bourne, MA. 508-759-9500; www.onsetcomp.com .

You can add domestic and international single-phase power outlets to instrument racks using an 852Q2L20 19-in. rack-mount power-distribution unit. The unit, featuring a 1U design, includes a lighted rocker circuit breaker and is UL recognized and CSA certified. It's rated for 16-A service at 250 VAC. Angled cordsets in various lengths are optional. Base price: $239. Panel Components, Oskaloosa, IA. 641-673-5000 www.interpower.com.

Ancot's FCAccess2000T combines several pieces of test equipment into a single PCI card. The card combines a traffic generator, error injector, and bit-error-rate (BER) tester, and it supports Fiber Channel data rates of 1.0625 Gbits/s and 2.125 Gbits/s. Line interfaces support copper, multimode fiber (850 nm) and single-mode fiber (1310 nm).

With the traffic generator, you can test receivers by emulating host and target ports. The error injector lets you introduce bit errors into the data stream under controlled conditions. For example, you can place errors in specific bits or your can introduce errors into bytes and frames. Finally, the BER tester counts bit errors and produces statistics that you can use to find error sources.

Just because the tester is on a card doesn't mean you're forced to use it in a desktop PC, though. A Notebook Companion version attaches to a laptop via the PC Card slot, and you can order the tester installed into a minitower desktop PC or into a server. The card operates through a stand-alone software package, or you can order a software developer's kit to create custom tests.

Base price: $14,900. Ancot, Menlo Park, CA. 650-322-5322; www.ancot.com

The PCI-400 PC-compatible controller card and boundary-scan interface pod links a PC to as many as four PCBs for testing or programming; an optional second pod expands capacity to eight boards. Any program

developed on the vendor's ScanWorks controller can run on the PCI-400 in a manufacturing environment without modification. ScanWorks can program the PCI-400's logic levels to 1.8, 2.5, 3.3, or 5 V and match impedance levels to those of the board under test. The PCI-400 can deliver 50 Mbits/s to a PCB located 50 ft away. The PCI-400 is available as an option to Agilent Technologies' 3070 in-circuit system or within a stand-alone ScanWorks system.

Base price: for a ScanWorks system containing the PCI-400—$15,995; PCI-400 hardware for an existing system—$9995. ASSET Intertech, Richardson, TX. 972-437-2800; www.asset-intertech.com.

Manufacturers of 10 Gigabit Ethernet products, from optical components to complete networks, need to test for conformance to IEEE 802.3ae. One of those tests requires you to measure the performance of a receiver to a range of timing and amplitude jitter. The A3306-A Optical Standards Tester now comes with an optional stressed-eye test for IEEE 802.3ae products. Option 10 lets the tester generate data streams in which you can close an eye pattern down to the limits defined by the standard, at which point a product must operate at a 10^-12 bit-error rate (BER).

The A3306-A uses frequency synthesizers, clock sources, optical filters, and a pseudorandom bit sequence generator that creates data streams of up to 2³¹–1 bits. The tester generates the test signals, adds clock jitter and amplitude jitter, and measures BER when you run your receiver in loopback mode through a known-good transmitter. The tester can test 10 Gigabit Ethernet LAN and WAN products as well as SONET and SDH products.

Prices: tester—$169,000; Option 10— $39,000. Circadiant Systems, Allentown, PA. 610-871-0500; www.circadiant.com.

Agilent's Model 81250 parallel BER tester, called ParBERT, now performs bit-error-rate (BER) tests on 40-Gbits/s optical components, line cards, network elements, and complete networks. New modules that run at OC-768 speeds are now available for the modular tester. The modules let you generate and analyze serial optical data streams and parallel electrical data streams for testing multiplexer and demultiplexer cards used in telecom equipment.

Each of the ParBERT's modules generate 16 serial data streams at 2.7 Gbits/s or 3.35 Gbits/s, which a mux under test multiples into a serial data stream. To test a MUX, you feed the multiplexed serial data stream into the data analyzer; it demultiplexes the tributary data streams and analyzes each one. To test demultiplexers, you can use the ParBERT to generate a serial data stream, then use the analyzer cards to measure BER on each tributary stream contained in the 40-Gbits/s stream. You can test multiplexers and demultiplexers with pseudorandom bit sequences up to 2³¹–1 bits.

The ParBERT comes with software that runs under Windows NT, Windows 2000, or Windows XP. It connects to a host PC through Agilent's IEEE 1394 PC link. To write custom test applications, you can use Agilent Vee, LabView, Visual Basic, or C.

Base price: $700,000. Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, CA. 800-452-4844, ext. 7758; www.tm.agilent.com.

The JT 2147 QuadPod system includes a modular four-channel transceiver and a set of up to four Test Access Port (TAP) pods for use with the vendor's existing DataBlaster boundary-scan controllers. The voltage thresholds of the four supported TAPs can be independently set from 1.2 to 3.3 V in 0.1-V steps. Within a single TAP, the boundary-scan TDI and TDO lines can be configured to different voltage levels to support single scan chains through ICs having different thresholds. Cable lengths from the QuadPod to a target PCB can be extended without compromising signal integrity. At 25 MHz, the system's built-in extender supports a 1-m range; additional repeaters extend the range indefinitely.

Base price: $1000. JTAG Technologies, Stevensville, MD. 877-367-5824; www.jtag.com.

The SV-3 Instrument Viewer eyewear-mounted display connects to the VGA output of oscilloscopes and other instruments, letting you track measurement results while keeping an eye on the equipment under test. The 640x480-pixel, 6-bit, 60-Hz-refresh-rate color display is readable in daylight; a rechargeable LiIon battery provides 6 to 8 hrs of operation between charges. Viewable with either the left or right eye, the SV-33 provides a 16° horizontal, 19° diagonal field of view. Head-supported weight is only 35 g.

Price: $995. MicroOptical, Westwood, MA. 781-326-8111, ext. 2; www.microoptical.net.