Technology - who can keep up? New applications are announced daily, and many more already in our cars, PCs, appliances, and home theaters that did not exist a short time ago. Every year, products and systems with more intelligence and convenience are available, usually at a lower cost than previous models. The basic premise of our market driven economy is the need to create new products that people will purchase – essentially, technology drives the economy. And don't we all like new technology!
But just as technology progresses, test technologies and their implementation strategies must change as well. Today's test requirements include factors such as increased simulation of sensors, fault insertion, higher data rates, and increased precision. All of these factors must be accomplished while simultaneously increasing test throughput and lowering costs. While these electronic test strategies have always been a tough challenge for our industry, it seems to be a more daunting prospect to support today’s technology.
Fortunately, the Test and Measurement industry has been developing new solutions to address these needs. In many cases, the solution has been the
PXI (PCI eXtensions for Instrumentation) modular instrumentation architecture, which has shown itself to be a remarkably flexible platform. Over the last 17 years, the sixty plus members of the
PXI Systems Alliance (PXISA) have continued to innovate and create modules that can address the newest technologies. Unique test and measurement solutions are being developed in PXI that are not available in other test platforms.
Why is PXI Successful?
Some of the reasons for PXI’s success are obvious. Many vendors, many more products, and many previous applications successes are key reasons. But looking beyond this, there are other reasons for success.
- Choices in Software – Many programming languages, including Real Time Operating Systems, as well as focused software for applications like HILS (Hardware In the Loop Simulation) make implementing PXI easier.
- Connectivity – The best hardware is useless unless you can connect it to the UUT (Unit Under Test). Fortunately, there are vendors who have created mass interconnects that work well with PXI.
- Vendor Creativity – The small size of 3U was seen as a detriment back in 1997 when the PXI specification was released. It was felt that the small size, especially when compared to VXI, would limit the bandwidth and density that could be achieved. Fortunately, the naysayers were wrong! Switching densities of 4,000 to 8,000 relays in a single matrix, 1,000 volt isolation, and RF instrumentation of up to 26 GHz and greater are just a few examples of what is possible in PXI.
- Ability to work with other test platforms – In many instances, hybrid test systems are the norm. This can be for reasons like—availability of test and measurement equipment, test budgets forcing hardware re-use, and partial re-hosting/upgrades of existing test systems. PXI has been shown to work well in these environments.
- System Integrators – This segment of the test industry has embraced the PXI platform as a solution for many applications. Their ability to make PXI work is a big part of the success.
But enough talk on the “Why” – let’s focus on the “How”
Because we cannot adequately present applications on every PXI advantage above in the limited space we have, we are going to focus on those applications where specialized simulation of a particular portion of a UUT’s operating environment is necessary for test that could be simulated using PXI.
Technology - who can keep up? New applications are announced daily, and many more already in our cars, PCs, appliances, and home theaters that did not exist a short time ago. Every year, products and systems with more intelligence and convenience are available, usually at a lower cost than previous models. The basic premise of our market driven economy is the need to create new products that people will purchase – essentially, technology drives the economy. And don't we all like new technology!
Fortunately, the Test and Measurement industry has been developing new solutions to address these needs. In many cases, the solution has been the 
PXImate book 
