Test Ideas

• Wireless temperature monitor has datalogging capabilities

  Tom Au-Yeung and Wilson Tang, Maxim Integrated Products, February 21, 2012
  You can use a local temperature sensor and an ASK (amplitude-shift-keying) transmitter/receiver pair to design a simple wireless temperature-monitoring system with datalogging capabilities.  More

• Circuit measures optocoupler’s response time

  Peter Demchenko, Vilnius, Lithuania, January 20, 2012
  Here is a simple circuit you can use to measure the attack and release times of photoresistor-type optocouplers  More

• Scripts automate source-measure units

  Andrew Street, NXP Semiconductors, October 28, 2011
  Source-measure units provide voltage and current to devices under test and they measure the device's response. Devices need a range of conditions and scripts can automate stimuli and measurements.  More

• Minimize noise in power-supply measurements

  John Lo Giudice, STMicroelectronics, Schaumburg, IL, October 1, 2011
  You must minimize noise when measuring ripple in power rails, because the ripple’s amplitude can be low. Eliminating excess noise from an oscilloscope probe yields better measurements.  More

• Modular system simulates a space payload

  Mathew Maher, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd., Surrey, UK, July 1, 2011
  Engineers at SSTL recently designed satellite payloads for launch on partner-system satellite platforms. To minimize development time, they developed a payload simulator that lets them test the interfaces between the platform and its payload.  More

• Circuit measures capacitance or inductance

  By Jim McLucas, Broomfield, CO, March 1, 2011
  Use instruments you already have and a few equations when you don't have a capacitance meter.  More

• Measure resistance with a microcontroller

  By Adolfo Mondragon, Electrolux Products, Juarez, Mexico, February 1, 2011
  Stepper motors contain coil windings that require resistance measurements. Resistance is easy to measure indirectly by using a constant-current source to force a voltage across the winding's unknown resistance, measuring the voltage, and applying Ohm's Law.  More

• Test Ideas: Measure DSL power spectral density

  By Dan Joffe, Adtran, Huntsville, AL, December 22, 2010
  A DSL transmitter's PSD is its signature in a network. Fortunately, you don't need thousands of feet of wire to measure a transmitted signal's PSD.  More

• Test Ideas: Microcontroller runs relay endurance test

  By Alvin Agustin, MET Laboratories, Baltimore, MD, November 1, 2010
  Regulatory standards typically have compliance criteria that require electromechanical components such as relays and switches to undergo endurance testing from a few cycles to several thousands of cycles. Automated tests are, therefore, essential.  More

• Test Ideas: Protect USB measurement circuits

  By Lawrence Raymond, Intrinsic Quality, Elk Grove Village, IL, October 1, 2010
  USB data-acquisition modules offer good value and ease of use, which makes them an attractive choice for manufacturing test. But before you use the modules in a manufacturing test system, you need to take steps to protect them.  More

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