Outside the Box
Larry Desjardin provides commentary and insight on topics outside that of traditional box instruments, including modular instrumentation, embedded test, and alternative test techniques.
[RF] Space, The Final Frontier
“These are the voyages of the starship PXI. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new applications; to seek out new markets and new segments; to boldly go where no modular platform has gone before.” I love it that splitting infinitives is now in fashion! Did you know that the root of the rule forbidding splitting infinitives was that it could not be translated precisely int ...... Read More
Comments (1)Getting Small. Does one modular standard beat the others?
In my last blog post I summarized the advantages of downsized instrumentation. More portable, more flexible, higher performance, and lower overall cost were all advantages depending on the application. It’s pretty clear that modular instrumentation delivers significant space savings over traditional instruments through the elimination of keyboards, displays, and redundant power suppli ...... Read More
Comments (2)Let’s get small!
Why small size is a big deal for automatic test equipment. One of the advantages of modular instrumentation is the reduced size compared to traditional equipment. Eliminate the keyboards and displays, do more via virtual instrumentation, and you can easily achieve five to one size savings or even more. At one time this wasn’t considered such a big deal, but more and more applications ...... Read More
Comments (0)How’s My Divining? Call 1-800-CRYSTALBALL
A Report Card for 2012 Predictions At the end of 2011, I made 10 predictions about the industry for 2012. Since we are now 4 months into the year, I though I’d review the predictions to see how I’m doing. It is also a good way to step back and take a look at the industry as a whole. 1. Modular instruments will outgrow traditional products by 10 points. Since the secular g ...... Read More
Comments (0)What’s up with proprietary modular systems?
In my recent article Integrating Traditional and Modular Instruments, I drew a contrast between traditional box instruments and open modular platforms, such as PXI, VXI, or AXIe. I briefly mentioned a class of products that are proprietary modular designs. These are modular instrument systems from a single vendor that consist of that vendor’s plug-in modules. Applications range from electro ...... Read More
Comments (1)Time is money where test is concerned
We’ve all heard the saying, “Time is money”. The saying was made famous by Benjamin Franklin, who was later honored by his place on the 100 dollar bill. This saying is particularly true when it comes to test. Test impacts an electronic manufacturer financially in two very different ways: time to market and test time. First one is measured in months, and secon ...... Read More
Comments (0)Mods and Rockers
Mods versus rockers. This epic rivalry is alive and well in test platform choices today. Two weeks ago I published an article that covered many of the basics of integrating traditional “box” instruments with modular instrumentation. You can read the article here. It focused on the controller and software aspects of the task, since that is where there is the most mystery. ...... Read More
Comments (1)What does Agilent’s New PXI Signal Analyzer Signal? Let’s Analyze.
This week Agilent unveiled a new PXI signal analyzer that boasts some very impressive specifications. Officially dubbed a Wideband MIMO PXI Vector Signal Analyzer, the new VSA brings to market capabilities not previously available in any form factor, box or modular. We’ll take a look at the product, and what this may signal about Agilent’s strategy. Let’s parse the rathe ...... Read More
Comments (1)Option Value and Test Strategy
Do you know what “option value” is? It comes in many forms, but the essentials are that there is value in having a choice at a future date. Take stock options as an example. Here, a company purchases its own stock at today’s price, and offers it to an employee at that price for the next several years. Question: Without the stock option, the employee could have purchased ...... Read More
Comments (0)The Coming Data Converter Revolution
There’s a revolution afoot, but occurring so continuously that you may miss it. But you will not miss its impact. I’ll discuss what this means to instrumentation in a moment. I’m speaking about the revolution in data converters. By data converters, I mean ADCs (analog to digital converters) and DACs (digital to analog converters). Data converters ...... Read More
Comments (1)Good Vibrations: Not just a Beach Boys song
ADLINK recently announced a new offering of PXI products, consisting of a new chassis, a new controller, and two digitizers. The summary can be found here. This marks the second introduction of PXI dynamic signal analyzers in as many months, following on the heels of VTI’s PXI epiphany (See VTI Instruments Shocks and Vibrates the Industry with a New Architecture). The two manufa ...... Read More
Comments (0)Outside the Box Experiences at Mobile World Congress
Many readers know I reported daily from MWC (Mobile World Congress) in Barcelona. My Day 1 coverage can be found here, and all other days are linked from that story. Any thoughts of a relaxed venue complimented by tapas and Sangria were dashed by the reality of the situation when I walked into the MWC media room. Bodies were littered from wall to wall, frantically typing out stor ...... Read More
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