Advancing test interfaces

Greg Reed, Technical Editor -- Test & Measurement World, 11/1/2005

Recent documents issued by the PXI Systems Alliance (PXISA) and the LXI Consortium detail the latest developments of PXI and LXI test communications interfaces and promulgation of corresponding standards. Each organization has good reason to be optimistic about success.

The PXISA released the PXI Express specification, which integrates PCI Express and CompactPCI technology into the PXI standard. PXI Express gives users expanded bandwidth (up to 6 Gbytes/s per system) while preserving compatibility with existing PXI products.

The LXI Consortium has released its first technical specification. The document intends to advance system integration by inclusion of functional areas, a unified trigger model, and application of IEEE 1588 for test and measurement.

PXI, based on PC technology, and LXI, based on Ethernet connectivity, offer advancement potential beyond traditional backplane buses. Today, PXI is well-entrenched with 65 member companies and more than 1150 products. Although still new, LXI has already signed on 20 members and counts several products in the marketplace.

Any successful technology advancement requires more than elegant design concepts. While we see tangible proof of PXI advancements and some initial success for LXI, future new product introductions with "PXI inside" or "LXI inside" will truly prove the direction of test interface advancements.

Contact Greg Reed at editor@aatr.net.