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PALO ALTO, Calif., August. 25, 2003
Engineers today are faced with the challenge
of speeding time-to-market of new, increasingly complex products
in response to ever-shortening product life cycles. And they
are being asked to do it with fewer resources and at a lower
cost than ever before. In order to meet these challenges, test
engineers need to be able to create new test systems fast, optimize
the speed of execution, and adapt the system to new modules
rapidly.
Test system set-up traditionally requires
days or weeks and can delay the introduction of new products.
Agilent research shows that shortening time-to-test is critical
for engineers whose primary concerns are avoiding test system
set-up delays so they can focus on the measurements themselves.
The test and measurement (T&M) industry has traditionally
relied on T&M-specific software and input/output (I/O) technologies.
As a result, engineers developing applications to control T&M
equipment must use various languages and development environments
unique to the industry. This contrasts with the computer industry,
where general-purpose standard programming languages lead the
pack. Likewise, the use of T&M-specific I/O has made the
process of connecting T&M instruments expensive, time-consuming
and frustrating.
In today's design and manufacturing environment,
T&M products are more than just point solutions. Agilent
estimates that 90 percent of all test equipment needs to connect
to a computer or network. As PCs have become the controller
of choice for test systems, engineers in the T&M industry
have begun to experience first-hand the advantages of using
computer-standard programming languages, interfaces, data formats
and computer protocols. Industry-standard software is typically
backed by significant investment that is likely to eclipse any
separate undertaking within the T&M industry. For example,
Microsoft Visual Studio.NET is based on the output of 3,000
engineers over a three-year period. As a result, design engineers
in nearly all industries are asking T&M instrument providers
to help protect their investments in software and hardware.
Finding new ways to reduce programming time by making it possible
to take advantage of the advances in computer-standard software
and PC I/O is paramount.
Proprietary T&M Application Development
The widespread use of proprietary software
and hardware within the T&M industry complicates the creation
of new test systems. In addition to locking users into expensive,
outdated technologies and architectures, proprietary software
forces engineers to remain proficient in multiple programming
environments. Proprietary technologies tend to be inflexible
and unable to easily accommodate changes to the T&M environment.
This can result in multiple homegrown applications that cannot
be leveraged.
As an example, let's examine the process of
developing a test system that uses a rack-and-stack architecture
with a general-purpose interface bus (GPIB) and a PC controller.
One of the first steps in developing the test system is to connect
all the test instruments, download drivers and verify communication
connections between the instruments and the PC. Because GPIB
is not found as a standard I/O on a PC, a GPIB interface card
must be installed into the PC, and the user has to somehow locate
the correct device drivers for the test equipment. Once drivers
are located, the engineer needs to identify the driver syntax
and learn the control code for each instrument. If drivers can't
be found, the engineer will write code that talks directly to
the instrument. This can be a long, frustrating process and
the results usually cannot be reused with other instruments
or systems.
Once the connection between the PC and instruments
is established, the engineer needs to get the test application
to "talk" to the test equipment. This involves figuring
out instrument addresses, determining the correct syntax and
parameters for each instrument, and using trial-and-error to
keep working through a loop until the correct solution is found.
Once this is done, the test engineer can finally begin writing
test programs in various languages such as C# or C++ to tell
the instrument what measurements to make and what data is needed.
In this example, the engineer could have chosen
to use cardcage architecture, traditionally a popular alternative
to rack-and-stack architecture. Although cardcage systems take
up less space than rack-and-stack systems, they often do not
have the functionality or the measurement science needed to
meet all test requirements. When that happens, engineers resort
to creating a more complicated hybrid system that includes both
cardcage and rack-and-stack architectures, further increasing
development time. Cardcages often require register-based programming,
sub-addresses and non-GPIB links causing further complications
in PC-to-instrument communications.
Agilent research concludes that engineers
spend days, sometimes weeks, installing and tweaking traditional
T&M industry I/O like GPIB and MXI interface cards on PCs,
loading drivers, and verifying communications connections with
instruments. Of the estimated $6 billion test and measurement
market1, a little over $35 million is spent on GPIB and MXI
cards2, which equals approximately 70,000 cards at $500 per
card. That's just the hardware cost. If engineers take an average
of two hours to install the card and drivers and get the system
working (assuming that an hour of their time costs $125), that
is $17.5 million of unproductive effort (70,000 cards x $250).
Simplifying Test System Development through
Standardization
Recognizing the need to simplify the process
of developing test systems, Agilent has taken the lead in introducing
software and hardware products that are compatible with industry-standard
programming languages and computer I/O technologies. For example,
the Agilent T&M Programmer's Toolkit provides specialized
components that enable rapid application development of T&M
programs within the Visual Studio .NET visual programming environment.
Agilent is also introducing system-ready hardware that integrates
computer-based interface standards, such as universal serial
bus (USB) and LAN ports. By offering a choice of computer interfaces,
engineers have quick and simple connectivity from instruments
to a PC or network for access across an engineering group. The
use of LAN also opens the door for direct browser-driven control
or data sharing across the enterprise.
Most recently, Agilent introduced the industry's
first standards-based test kit that automates the connection
of instruments and simplifies the development of test programs
to dramatically shorten test setup times. The Agilent Test Automation
Kit builds on computer-standard I/O and programming languages
to compress test set-up from days or weeks down to an hour.
The Agilent Test Automation Kit greatly simplifies test system
development by enabling engineers who are developing low-frequency
applications to quickly load drivers and activate, configure
and verify Agilent measurement instruments automatically.
Agilent Test Automation Kit
The key element of the Test Automation Kit
is Agilent's new test express software, which is compatible
with Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Visual Basic 6, Agilent VEE,
NI LabVIEW, Microsoft C# or Microsoft Visual Basic .NET. The
use of standard programming languages, as well as T&M languages
such as NI LabVIEW, enables test engineers to work in the programming
languages they already know. This saves the time and expense
of learning a new language. In addition, engineers are able
to modify existing test programs instead of starting from scratch
each time they create a new test system. Test express software
is made up of four key components, including:
- the test express guide, which loads the drivers, configures
the instruments and provides information explaining how to
connect the test system.
- the graphical explorer, which automatically discovers instruments
and creates a pictorial view of the system for verification.
- the system verifier, which works with the test module to
ensure reliable measurements of each instrument and to emulate
a product under test.
- the sample manager, which includes 200 sample test programs
that can be used to develop customized programs for particular
applications.
In addition to test express software, the
Test Automation Kit includes an Agilent USB/GPIB converter to
simplify I/O connections by eliminating the need to purchase
and install a GPIB card into the controlling PC. The Test Automation
Kit also includes a wiring harness to enable easy connections
from a switch, and a test module to enable quick verification
of the test system, as well as two hours of expert consulting
services from Agilent to help engineers optimize their test
system.
The Test Automation Kit can be combined with
a wide-range of Agilent's most popular low-frequency measurement
instruments, enabling engineers to use equipment they are familiar
with and already own. Agilent instruments directly supported
by the Test Automation Kit include:
- Agilent 34401A and 34970A DMM and DMM/switch
- Agilent 3499A,B, C switch units
- Agilent 33120A, 33220A, 33250A function generators
- Agilent 53131A, 53132A frequency counters
- Agilent E3631A, E3632A, E3633A, E3634A power supplies
- Agilent 54600 Series oscilloscopes
Alternatively, to help companies who might
not already own equipment to quickly begin test system development,
Agilent is also recommending two test configurations that include
test instruments and the Test Automation Kit. These configurations
offer the industry's lowest-cost combination of system-ready
instruments and software, and include:
- The economy configuration, which is designed to provide
engineers who only occasionally design test systems the most
common measurements and signal sources that are used during
the entire design process -- from research and development
through design validation. The economy configuration includes
the Test Automation Kit as well as the Agilent 34970A DMM/Switch
Unit with a 20-channel multiplexer card, the 33220A 20-MHz
waveform generator, the 53131A counter, and the E36131A triple-output
power supply.
- The high-capacity configuration, which features a robust
set of instruments and switches to offer additional channels
and measurements for design validation and low-volume manufacturing.
This configuration includes the Test Automation Kit as well
as the Agilent 3499A switch mainframe, the 34401A DMM, the
33220A 20 MHz waveform generator, the 53131A counter, the
E3631A triple output power supply, and the 54622A 100 MHz
digitizing oscilloscope.
Conclusion
Competitiveness and standards are critical
to the success and longevity of today's businesses -- driving
companies to lower costs, speed development and protect investments
in every discipline, including test and measurement. By fully
embracing standards that have been adopted by the computer industry,
the T&M community can immediately access a wealth of innovations,
secure its investment and accelerate design and test productivity.
With the introduction of the Test Automation
Kit, Agilent is continuing to align its T&M products with
industry standard programming languages and computer I/O. The
Agilent Test Automation Kit is the first standards-based tool
designed specifically to help design engineers integrate hardware
and software quickly and easily. The Test Automation Kit enables
companies to take advantage of their investments in hardware,
and use programming languages they are familiar with to dramatically
reduce the time, expense and frustrations associated with test
system development.
# # #
(1) Prime Data, 2001
(2) Frost & Sullivan, 1997
Contact:
Janet Smith, Agilent
+1 970 679 5397
janet_smith@agilent.com
Heather Van Schoiack
Weber Shandwick, for Agilent
+1 425 452 5457
hvanschoiack@webershandwick.com
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