PXI book introduces LXI concepts

PXImate purports to be “a guide for using PXI for functional testing of analog, digital, and RF systems,” and it readily lives up to that claim. The book, created by the staff of Pickering Interfaces with input from Acqiris and Virginia Panel, also introduces concepts related to PXI Express and LXI.

The book kicks off with a chapter on PXI basics that's applicable for novice PXI users. It discusses 32- and 64-bit backplanes, their attendant bandwidths, and bridging considerations related to triggering. It also introduces PXI Express and comments on the use of hybrid PXI slots.

A chapter on software for PXI implementations comments on the use of Agilent Vee and NI LabView graphical programming for PXI applications, and it moves beyond the Windows environment to discuss the use of Unix, Linux, Solaris, and Macintosh operating systems. It notes that register-level programming can be used if available device drivers that support non-Windows environments can't be found, but it warns that such programming can become quite complex for all but the simplest instrument systems.

Chapter 3 provides a detailed introduction to LXI, comparing and contrasting it with PXI and succinctly describing the three LXI instrument classes. It also introduces the LXI physical configuration, reset mechanisms, LAN- and Web-based instrument communication, LXI triggering, and LXI programming.

The remainder of the book—chapters 4 through 10—focuses on implementation details. Chapter 4 defines basic switch configurations, ranging from SPST (single pole, single throw) through cascade and tree configurations and on to cross-point matrices. It describes the basic switch technologies (electro-mechanical, reed, mercury-wetted, edge-line, PIN-diode, FET, MEMS, and optical) and the modules in which they can be configured.

Subsequent chapters cover how to use switching systems for routing stimulus and response signals for digital circuits; how to select power supplies and simulate loads; how to integrate digital multimeters (DMMs), synthesizers, oscilloscopes, and digitizers into a PXI system; and how to select cables and connectors. A section on RF measurements provides information that's useful whether or not you are using a PXI platform; it defines and shows how to measure such specifications as 1-dB compression point and third-order intercept.

One thing the book doesn't do is expand on its PXI Express and LXI introductory material to go into detail on the nuances that those platforms might impose. We'll have to wait for the 5th edition for that.