FEBRUARY eSPOTLIGHT NEWSLETTER

Managing the total cost of ownership for your PXI system is a critical factor in any test engineering budget. 

When selecting a PXI module, balancing performance requirements with budgetary constraints is a primary consideration for any test system. The choice between vendors like NI and Pickering can significantly impact both initial acquisition costs and long-term operational expenditures.

Check out our analysis detailing cost-effective strategies for building a reliable, budget-friendly test system.

Our white paper, "Multi-Gig Automotive Ethernet Validation: Applications for 10GBASE-T1 MEMS Fault Insertion," provides practical guidance for test engineers working with Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and multi-gigabit automotive Ethernet networks. 

Key Takeaways:

• Comprehensive Testing at Multi-Gig Speeds: Programmatically configure open circuits, shorts, and intermittent connections across 2.5/5/10GBASE-T1 data rates with a single test platform.
  
• Ease of Integration: Implement consistent fault insertion methodologies that scale across multiple ADAS projects.
  
• Extended Operational Life: MEMS switching technology delivers over 3 billion operations per relay with minimal degradation and built-in cycle counting for predictable maintenance.
  
• Signal Integrity: Higher bandwidth design suitable for up to 10GBASE-T1.
  
• Minimized Downtime: Proactively resolve fault response issues during the development phase. 
  
• Compliance: Produce repeatable, documented test results to meet safety and quality standards. 

When a major European airline needed to enhance the accuracy of their fuel control system's hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) test station, they turned to us for a solution. 

🔧 The Challenge:

The airline faced signal crosstalk issues and measurement inaccuracies in their existing harness, impacting test reliability. They needed a robust solution to eliminate errors, improve shielding, and accommodate advanced testing requirements.

🏹The Outcome: 

A new harness was delivered, and the airline’s engineers saw immediate improvements in the performance of their HIL test system. As hoped, test accuracy was significantly improved thanks to better shielding and by switching to 4-wire measurements in some cases.

In this video, we demonstrate how an RF & microwave switch and signal routing system (RF Interface Unit or RFIU) can be designed, simulated, and modeled using our free online Microwave Switch Design Tool (MSDT).

For more information on any of the above resources or to discuss ways we can collaborate on your automated test system, contact us.

We have Something BIG coming next month!

More information will be provided in the next few weeks. But for now, we can tell you if you like saving time and reducing errors in your signal path design... you are in for a treat.