Rowe's and Columns
Senior Technical Editor Martin Rowe covers topics relating to general-purpose instrumentation, compliance, communications test, and anything else that comes along.
A Carton of advice, part 1
While researching an upcoming article, I ran across Bill Carton, an engineer with over 30 years experience in ATE design and customer support. He’s compiled sixteen pieces of advice on troubleshooting and fixing almost anything. Bill gave me his permission to post them. I’ll start here and post them from time to time, in no particular order. Never give up, unless forced to by economi ...... Read More
Comments (1)CISPR 16-1-1 Ed.3 published
CISPR 16-1-1 Ed.3, Specification for radio disturbance and immunity measuring apparatus and methods - Part 1-1: Radio disturbance and immunity measuring apparatus - Measuring apparatus, was published by the International Electrotechnical Commission on January 28, 2010. Edition 3 lets you use a spectrum analyzer at frequencies below 1 GHz, provided that it has the proper average and quasi-peak dete ...... Read More
Comments (1)Wireless circuits and systems test workshop
IEEE Computer Society, runs numerous conferences and workshops on testing through the year and throughout the world. The latest call for papers is for the 9th Workshop on Test of Wireless Circuits and Systems, to be held on April 21 and 22 near Santa Cruz, CA. Paper Topics include: Design-for-testability RF wafer probing High frequency test Wireless test methodology Embedded RF circuit test Test e ...... Read More
Comments (0)Handheld spectrum analyzer reviewed
Ken Wyatt, former EMC engineer at Agilent now EMC consultant, contributor to T&MW, and EMC engineers drummer, has written a hands-on review of a handheld spectrum analyzer. In his review of the PSA2701T from UK company Thurlby Thandar Instruments, Wyatt describes it as “the perfect handheld emissions detector.” The instrument cover the frequency range of 1 MHz to 2.7 GHz. Read th ...... Read More
Comments (0)The sound of (near) silence
The other day, my home desktop computer reminded me of Dave Lohbeck’s article “Design for dust.” Every summer when the outside temperature reached about 80, my home desktop PC would literally scream. A loud whining noise would build as the temperature rose. Even an air conditioner a few feet away didn’t help. When the temperature dropped, so did the loud noise. When the ...... Read More
Comments (1)Don't restrict the flow of technical knowledge
In follow up to my recent blog posting Technical papers and Open Access Publishing, I call in IEEE to change its policy on access to technical papers. Here’s my story. I’m a member of two IEEE societies that publish IEEE Transactions. While most of the papers are rather scholarly, I sometimes run across one that I’d like to summarize and provide a link for readers to download ...... Read More
Comments (3)100 G: Arriving sooner than you think
100 Gbps Ethernet is coming, and its moving faster than I expected. What’s really surprised me is the speed at which 4×25 Gbps Ethernet has advanced. Last year when I reported on 40G/100G Ethernet, most of the 100 Gbps activity was using 10×10 Gbps lanes. Apparently, the needs for fewer, faster lanes is quite real. There have been a number of recent 100G Ethernet product announcem ...... Read More
Comments (0)Technical papers and Open Access Publishing
An ongoing discussion on the official IEEE LinkedIn Group addresses the issue of Open Access Publishing. Roger Pollard, 2010 IEEE Vice-President, Technical Activities started discussion by noting that the US and other countries are moving toward free access to research papers funded or partially funded with public money.Numerous IEEE members have chimed in, some wondering how this will affect stan ...... Read More
Comments (1)Dilbert gets it right again
Over the New Year’s weekend, I picked up a Dilbert 2010 calendar just for the cover. Dilbert is in the lab when the pointy-hair manager says “There are only two things you can’t have for the test lab this year. Hardware and software.” I couldn’t resist. Does this describe your company? Leave a comment. ...... Read More
Comments (1)IOtech products will move to Measurement Computing
IOtech and Measurement Computing, subsidiaries of National Instruments, will integrate their product lines during 2010. By the end of they year, IOtech’s general-purpose data-acquisition products will be manufactured and supported at the current Measurement Computing facility in Norton, MA. The product lines include the USB PersonalDaq, Ethernet-based data recorders, PCI cards, and stand-al ...... Read More
Comments (0)IOtech, Measurement Computing to combine
IOtech and Measurement Computing, subsidiaries of National Instruments, will integrate their product lines during 2010. By the end of the year, IOtech’s general-purpose data-acquisition products will be manufactured and supported at the Measurement Computing facility in Norton, MA. The product lines include the USB PersonalDaq, Ethernet-based data recorders, PCI cards, and stand-alone datal ...... Read More
Comments (0)Get introduced to EMC
If you need a quick introduction to EMC (electromagnetic compatibility), you can find it in a Powerpoint presentation from Wim Vogel of Dutch company Modern Applied Technology Engineering (MATE). Vogel’s presentation starts with some theory, then explains electric and magnetic fields and coupling paths between conducting traces and planes. He then covers field strength and why electronic de ...... Read More
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