The LXI Consortium has scheduled its 11th LXI plug-fest and general meeting, which will be held Wednesday, February 13, in Newport Beach, CA.  VXI Technology will host the event. The consortium will use the plug-fest to demonstrate LXI-compliant products in a variety of applications. For more information visit the LXI Consortium's Events Website.

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Pickering Interfaces has released "LXImate: a practical guide to the LXI standard and getting started with LXI devices." I just got a copy this morning and haven't had a chance to read it, but I expect it will measure up to the quality of the company's "PXImate," which I reviewed last year. I'll have more on "LXImate" later after I've had a chance to read it. Meanwhile, I doubt you could go wrong requesting a free copy.

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The LXI Consortium has announced plans for a general meeting and plug fest to be held October 9-11, in Munich, Germany. LXI member company Rohde & Schwarz is hosting the meetings at the Rohde & Schwarz training facilities.

Topics covered will include LXI specification 1.2 and the forthcoming version 2 as well as IEEE 1588. LXI Consortium members Goepel and Data Translation will test their first LXI products for certification, and Rohde & Schwarz will conduct class B testing. A multivendor demonstration system (MVDS) will showcases the capabilities of LXI-compliant instruments from multiple vendors.

Events are open to both members and non-members. Member companies will have the opportunity to test prototype LXI devices for complianc...Read More

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Paul Franklin, Manager of Keithley Labs at Keithley Instruments, submitted this post:

When test equipment is shipped with the LXI logo, users can be assured that it has been rigorously tested and that it conforms to LXI specifications. The LXI consortium requires this testing before manufacturers can use the logo. Requiring this testing allows integrators and users to be confident that test equipment with the LXI logo will meet published specifications and operate properly with other LXI equipment.
At this time, however, vendors supplying software for test and measurement do not have this requirement, because the LXI specifications do not cover software. Software vendors cannot use the LXI logo on their software products. The LXI technical and marketing committees are considering several proposals that would allow the use o...Read More

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Bob Stasonis of Pickering Interfaces and co-chair of the LXI marketing committee submitted this post:

A new Case Study on the LXI Consortium web site describes how the technology was used to reduce the size of a test system for multiple flat panel displays that required a 24 by 8 matrix, with the option to convert to a 48 by 8 matrix. While matrices of this size can be designed in a number of ways, none is physically small. Normally, the options include a tree structure or a hybrid structure of smaller matrices connected together in a way that avoids excessive transmission line degradation through capacitive loading by open stubs or the load of the open relays. In many cases, the performance suffered.

The LXI video matrix designed by Pickering Interfaces greatly simplified the design and occupies only 1U of full rack wi...Read More

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Bob Helsel, executive director of the LXI Consortium, submitted the following post:

The LXI Consortium has posted a series of podcasts on its website, www.lxistandard.org, that provide insights on the present and future status of LXI in China. The podcasts are saved as MP3 files in both English and Chinese. Topics include:
• Mr. Zhang Rong Chun from system integrator Acery answers the question, “Would you require 100% availability of LXI instruments to start LXI system adoption?”
• Mr. Jiu Guang Yi from The Aircraft Institute discusses the key end-uses of LXI in China.
• Professor Fu from the Harbin Institute of Technology describes how LXI technology will grow in engineering classes in China.
• Mr. Jianping Cui, Deputy P...Read More

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Conrad Proft, Agilent Technologies, LXI Technical Committee, submitted the following post:

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LXI member companies will participate in a demonstration of the technology’s remote access capabilities at Autotestcon 2007, September 17-20 in Baltimore. The demonstration will consist of a rack of Class C instruments from various vendors located at the LXI Consortium Booth (No. 953). The equipment will be connected to a LAN switch and wireless router that will broadcast to the surrounding trade-show floor. Booths of participating LXI members will contain repeaters to propagate the signal to the entire show floor.

The purpose of the demonstration is to show how LXI makes it easy to configure and control instruments, as well as to monitor measurement results from remote locations. It will also demonstrate the system isolation and LA...Read More

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Agilent Technologies has introduced what it bills as the world's first LXI-compliant power meter. The N8262A P-Series instrument is just 1U high and supports LAN-based automated measurements of peak power, average power, and peak-to-average ratio. Its small size and ability to operate without shared power supplies, card cages, or system controllers, the company reports, enables a lower startup cost for an automated test system. Compliant with IVI drivers, the meter is designed for seamless operation with existing test assets.

"Every element of a test system plays a role in ensuring mission readiness," said Ee Huei Sin, VP and GM manager of Agilent's Basic Instruments Division, in a press release. "The N8262A modular power meter is another way we help our customers build greater assurance in system readin...Read More

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Bob Stasonis, Chairman of the LXI Marketing Committee, submitted the following post:

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Over 150 product developers, system integrators and university professors attended the LXI General Meeting in Beijing, China, June 19-21. They came to hear presentations by Consortium members from around the world about the capabilities and benefits of the technology. One goal of the holding the meeting in Beijing was make to increase awareness of LXI in Chinese industry and to help system integrators and product developers better understand LXI so that they can develop products and applications utilizing the technology.

A podcast from the meeting is available on the LXI site at http://www.lxistandard.org/about/events/. In it Bob Rennard, LXI Consortium president, states that the Consortium chose ...Read More

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The LXI Standard provides a common set of minimum capabilities for LXI compliant instruments that enable users to mix and match equipment more easily. LXI specifies basic requirements for a Web server interface within compliant instruments. As an added benefit to customers, many vendors have gone beyond the minimum to offer more advanced control and visualization capabilities.

For example, two Keithley LXI RF instruments (the Models 2810 and 2910) provide enhanced Web capabilities that allow users to operate the instruments via the Web similar to how they use the front-panel interfaces. These GUIs allow remote and shared access to the instruments for applications that benefit from allowing multiple users to access the instruments during operation. An example would be a classroom setting. These interfaces do not require PC software t...Read More

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The LXI standard requires that Class B instruments include IEEE 1588 precision time protocol capabilities. Already established in the power-generation and IT industries, 1588 is moving into test-and-measurement products with the emergence of the LXI standard. IEEE 1588, or PTP, provides a method for automatic servo-converging of a number of real-time clocks to a master reference clock with accuracies down into the tens of nanoseconds. While such high precision requires special switchgear and highly stable clocks, routine implementations can provide synchronization below a few hundred microseconds using common IT equipment and commodity clocks within a subnet.

Such capability allows event programming to be done on a prescheduled rather than reactive basis. For example, a pulse source can be preprogrammed to output a pulse of one-millisecond duration at 12:00 EST plus or ...Read More

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The LXI Technical Committee has been discussing ways to provide more assistance to manufacturers trying to develop LXI products. Ideas put forward by the Committee so far:
• A series of white papers or articles focusing on designing equipment to be LXI compliant.
• An “implementer’s forum” to facilitate information exchange, provide help and guidance, etc.

The main concern with lending formal support to this effort is member concerns that implementation details fall into the area of competitive advantage because they improve performance and lower cost. This makes members reluctant to share more than very basic information. Still, it seems that a lot of useful information is in the public domain, and collecting it in one place would be helpful to vendors who don’t know where to begin.

Over the next few months, the Tech...Read More

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