Taking the Measure
Patrick Mannion, editor in chief of Test & Measurement World and EDN, comments on test, globalization, measurement, machine vision, economics, nanotechnology, the engineering profession, and topics of general interest.
DesignCon 2012 Panel: Test gurus share vision to accelerate your ‘time to answer’
The countdown begins: On Wednesday next at DesignCon 2012 I’ll be moderating a panel comprising four of the sharpest minds in the electronics industry as they explore the cutting edge of technology and what it means for you, the test engineer. It’s important to note at this point that this panel is a new addition to DesignCon, and its primary purpose is to be an interactive forum for ...... Read More
Comments (1)Testing times bring technological and (editorial) employment opportunities
I had the good fortune of being able to visit with Tektronix at the recent Embedded Systems Conference in Boston. There, I was struck by how Mike Juliana’s analysis of Tek’s mid-summer acquisition of Veridae fit so well with the needs of today’s test and measurement engineers, and how that mapped to openings we have here at Test & Measurement World. As Mike put it, and he& ...... Read More
Comments (0)Tektronix to tout scopes, embedded instruments at ESC Boston
Tektronix will make use of the Embedded Systems Conference Boston as a venue to highlight its traditional instruments and embedded instrument technology, based on interviews with executives and managers at the company’s Beaverton, OR, headquarters. You can expect the company’s new oscilloscopes to be prominently displayed at the Tektronix booth at ESC, including the 33-GHz DPO/DSA700 ...... Read More
Comments (0)ESC Boston exhibitor touts JTAG to boost NVM programming speed
Although originally conceived as a means of testing component interconnectivity on a printed-circuit board, boundary-scan technology also offers a window into the inner workings of a chip. That window also provides a means of programming NVM (nonvolatile memory). However, the traditional method of programming NVM via the boundary-scan TAP (Test Access Port) can be slow. Simply reading every locati ...... Read More
Comments (1)Tektronix mixes domains
Engineers are increasingly working in both the time and frequency domains as the products they are designing increasingly incorporate wireless functionality. To help them out, Tektronix has introduced what it calls a mixed-domain oscilloscope (MDO), which combines the functionality of an oscilloscope and a spectrum analyzer in a single instrument. The combination saves bench space, obviously, but ...... Read More
Comments (2)ESC Boston offers integration-and-test track
Systems integration and test will be the focus of a Thursday, September 29, track at the Embedded Systems Conference Boston. The track will feature four 75-minute sessions on software certification, a C test harness for embedded systems, model-based testing, and scenario testing. Shan Bhattacharya, a field application engineer at LDRA, will begin the track at 9:30 a.m. with a session titled ȁ ...... Read More
Comments (2)HP looks to spin-off PC business
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that HP is looking to sell its low-margin PC business. The Journal says the move is a reversal of HP’s purchase of Compaq 10 years ago. The Journal quotes its own report from 2001: “At its most basic, the deal would bring Compaq, the world’s No. 2 maker of personal computers, under the umbrella of H-P, a distant No. 3, allowing the co ...... Read More
Comments (0)From wireless edge to Internet core
“IPv6 gets real”-that’s the word from Ixia, which, with its July acquisition of VeriWave, stands poised to handle comprehensive test of IPv6-enabled devices, “from the wireless edge to the Internet core.” In a recent phone interview, Joe Zeto, Ixia’s market development manager for wireless product lines, said the company is addressing data, voice, video, a ...... Read More
Comments (1)NI responds to Agilent’s comments on VSA comparison
Furthering a debate about vector-signal-analyzer performance comparisons, a National Instruments spokesperson has responded to Agilent Technologies’ earlier comments. Agilent in turn had been responding to an NIWeek demonstration and several online videos that compare the NI PXIe-5665 and the Agilent PXA. Read my earlier post here. NI’s response follows: “For a typical automat ...... Read More
Comments (0)Agilent responds to NI VSA comparison
Taking note of competitive comparisons presented by National Instruments at NIWeek with regard to signal-analyzer performance, Agilent Technologies is presenting a forceful response. The controversy stems in part from claims made at a Tuesday August 2 NIWeek keynote presentation, in which Jin Baines, director of RF R&D at NI, and Raajit Lall, NI product marketing manager for RF, presented a he ...... Read More
Comments (8)NIWeek addresses engineering grand challenges
Austin, TX. The 14 grand engineering challenges identified by the National Academy of Engineering served as a rough outline for demonstrations during keynote sessions at this year’s NIWeek event. I’m not sure that keynote presenters touched on all 14, but it’s likely that the 3300 attendees could have found all 14 addressed during summits, during technical sessions, or on the ...... Read More
Comments (2)On the road to self-driving cars
I wrote earlier about driverless cars, and now I have come across an item in Smartmoney that charts progress to fully autonomous vehicles, including the Volvo XC60’s queue-assist adaptive cruise control function. Smartmoney writer Missy Sullivan quotes an owner of a XC60 as saying, “It’s like being a backseat driver, only in the driver’s seat.” As Sullivan puts i ...... Read More
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