Thanks to advances in microprocessor computing power, a bumper crop of test and measurement (T&M) hardware and software products that use the PC as the host computer is at the ready for engineers. Not to be outdone, manufacturers of traditional benchtop instruments are trying to keep pace. They're harnessing the computational capabilities of the latest microprocessors by embedding them within their products and by simplifying the instrument's interface task to PCs via computer buses.
But flexibility isn't the sole driver of PC-centric T&M product growth. Economics is an overwhelming force, too. Why spend $20,000 to $30,000 for a dedicated piece of test equipment when a $1000 PC can do nearly the same job after adding widely available specific plug-in cards for just a few hundred dollars more?
Test-equipment makers can logically argue that for certain advanced-technology designs—high-speed communication ICs, very complex ICs, and sophisticated DSPs, for example—there's no substitute for a sophisticated piece of test equipment, particularly during a new product's development phase. In fact, many savvy engineers may still be comfortable with their own integral oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, frequency sources, and digital multimeters.
Another camp within the traditional T&M industry actually advocates separating instruments from PCs by making the instruments closed systems. This saves the cost of product support, which provides no payback. Agilent Technologies' Infinium line of oscilloscopes, for instance, is designed to run on software expressly written for oscilloscope measurements, not on software of the user's choice.
The lines of distinction between traditional instruments and PC-based instruments often blur. A traditional instrument with a powerful built-in PC can rightly be called "PC-based," as can a PC with built-in T&M functional cards and software. A growing trend has resulted, with both camps joining forces, at least for now, and end users reaping the best of both worlds.
Instruments with PCs inside them aren't necessarily new. Some of the earliest logic analyzers incorporated 8-bit CPUs. Instruments continue to exploit CPU power by including the latest microprocessors, the very devices that are also powering PCs. That fact hasn't been lost on manufacturers of PC-centric T&M hardware and software modules. For over a decade, they've been using the PC on an increasing basis as a platform for T&M functions. National Instruments is spearheading this effort with a broad range of software and hardware products, and so far no challengers exist.
According to Eric Starkloff, platform manager for PXI and Modular Instruments at National Instruments, "On the surface, the approach to T&M being used by those who make PC-centric products like us, and those who make traditional box-type instruments like Agilent (formerly Hewlett-Packard) and Tektronix, may look similar, but they're really two different approaches with distinct differences. You can't upgrade your instrument in the field as quickly as your PC that's being used for T&M functions. An instrument has a typical lifetime of five to 20 years, whereas a PC has a lifetime of 1.5 to two years. Clearly, the PC part of an instrument will deteriorate in performance very rapidly over time compared to the average norm, while PC-centric products will stay in step with advancing PC computational capabilities."
Starkloff adds that "software designed for 20-GHz processors, which we can expect five years from now, is not going to run on processors embedded within a traditional T&M instrument that's five years old."
Traditional T&M equipment makers and PC-centric hardware and software suppliers agree that the application determines the best approach to use. They see the need for a tighter integration of design tools and for application-specific analysis capability. According to National Instruments, research has shown that an engineer rarely uses a single instrument, with an average of five instruments. So coming up with a flexible multimeasurement system would greatly benefit engineers, and few can argue that the PC as a T&M analysis platform is a very powerful tool for this purpose.
COLLABORATION IS KEY
Manufacturers of traditional T&M instruments and those of PC-centric products are finding that working together is better for both, because they're targeting the same end user. Some PC-centric product makers are also joining forces with PC manufacturers, widening the range of T&M capabilities for engineers.
Last year, National Instruments and Tektronix formed a cooperative effort to maximize a design engineer's productivity by delivering National Instruments' LabView software pre-installed on Tektronix's oscilloscopes with Windows platforms. Tektronix also strengthened its foothold into the PC-centric market with the acquisition of Gage Applied Inc., a leader in advanced board-level T&M products for PC platforms.
Other major T&M suppliers have also established working relationships with National Instruments, including Agilent Technologies, Fluke Corp., LeCroy Corp., and Keithley Instruments Inc. In addition, National Instruments announced a partnership this year with Dell Computers. Under the agreement, Dell will preconfigure its PCs with National Instruments' hardware and software products.
National Instruments has also been busy establishing relationships with leading automatic test-equipment (ATE) vendors. It's working closely with large ATE companies like Teradyne/GenRad, Agilent Technologies, Tektronix, and Credence Systems Corp. to advance the functionality of these companies' ATE system offerings.
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