Product update

Goepel Electronics' Boundary Scan Probe, available from Huntron in the US, adds logic observation and stimulation capabilities to enhance traditional IEEE 1149.1 boundary-scan tests. It offers various modes for static and dynamic stimulation of unit-under-test nets and simultaneously measures the net level. LEDs display the driven and measured levels, which are accessible via the probe's TAP interface to a computer running Goepel's System Cascon software.

Price: $290. Huntron, Mill Creek, WA. 800-426-9265; www.huntron.com .

Computer and communications serial buses require eye-mask testing for bit amplitude, timing, and jitter. The RT-Eye Serial Data Compliance and Analysis package lets you perform eye-mask tests on PCI Express and Infiniband signals with the Tektronix TDS6000 and TDS/CSA7000 Series of oscilloscopes.

The PCI Express option lets you perform mask testing on both transition and nontransition bits, which use different amplitudes. The software separates the bits, performs mask tests, and reports the amplitude difference. Jitter measurements let you detect jitter at bit-error ratios to 10^–12. Histograms, trend and frequency analysis, and bathtub curves that the software produces help you find and debug communications errors through statistical analysis.

You capture the data bits with the P7350SMA differential probe; the probe's 5-GHz bandwidth is high enough to measure the 2.5-Gbits/s data streams in these serial buses. Its SMA connectors let you connect the probe directly to test fixtures.

Prices: RT-Eye analysis software—$7495; Infiniband and PCI Express compliance modules—$995 each; P7350SMA—$7200. Tektronix, Beaverton, OR. 800-426-2200, code 1295; www.tektronix.com .

A new version of the MicroClimate test chamber provides both temperature and humidity simulation. The 1.2-ft³ benchtop chamber simulates temperature from –73°C to +190°C and relative humidity from 10% to 98%. Standard features include a programmable controller, RS-232 interface, humidity water demineralizer cartridge, and a 2-in. access port. The stackable, small footprint system saves floor space and runs on a standard 115-V, 15-A circuit.

Base price: $6000. Cincinnati Sub-Zero, Cincinnati, OH. 513-772-8810; www.cszinc.com .

The Personal Kalos 2 (PK2) desktop engineering test system tests nonvolatile memories, including NOR, NAND, serial, and embedded flash. It also addresses integrated devices that combine flash arrays and digital logic. Based on Credence's patented Tester-on-a-Chip (ToC) architecture, the PK2 provides 100-MHz pattern generation and can generate up to 400-MHz waveforms in multiplex modes.

It features unrestricted at-speed error capture RAM (ECR), hardware-enhanced redundancy analysis, and software for device characterization and debug. The ToC architecture provides the PK2 with up to four fully independent 48-pin slices, each supported by a full set of test resources with each pin having 64 Mbits of vector memory.

Base price: less than $150,000. Credence Systems, Fremont, CA. 510-657-7400; www.credence.com .

Engineers who need to test 10-Gbits/s data-communication channels can use the 10-Gig "blades" in Apcon's IntellaPatch physical-layer switches. The blades come in three models, covering 10-Gigabit Ethernet, 10-Gbits/s Fibre Channel, and SONET OC-192 data rates; each adds four optical ports to the IntellaPatch chassis.

In test applications, the optical switches let you test routers and other communications equipment by switching data streams into and out of equipment such as protocol analyzers and optical power meters. Application software to control the blades runs on Windows, Linux, Solaris, or Unix.

Base price: $9995. Apcon, Beaverton, OR. 503-639-6700; www.apcon.com .

Designed for high-speed production-line control and data tracking, the V670 radio-frequency-identification (RFID) system operates in self-execution mode, eliminating the delay required for communication with a host controller. The system's ID tags incorporate batteryless ferroelectric RAM technology. Each tag has a memory capacity of 128 bytes and can be accessed 1 billion times, enabling nearly continuous use for 10 years. Antennas located 10 cm apart experience no mutual interference. The system can serve in applications such as the production, inspection, and electrical test of printed-circuit boards.

Price: $1400.Omron, Schaumburg, IL. 800-556-6766; www.omron.com .

DT Measure Foundry 4.0 expands on the previous version's data-analysis abilities by giving you links to Matlab and to Excel, which provide live and post-acquisition data analysis. The application-development package uses drag-and-drop icons to build applications. Version 4.0 differs from the previous version in that the user interface resembles that of Windows XP. A panel called "Melting Pot" lets you develop math formulas within DT Measure Foundry, and it also provides a method for you to run Matlab scripts. DT Measure Foundry 4.0 works with all of Data Translation's PC plug-in and USB data-acquisition cards.

Price: $995. Data Translation, Marlboro, MA. 508-481-3700; www.datatranslation.com .