News
Updated USB developer’s guide adds material on 3.0 and Superspeed 6/10/2009
USB Complete: The Developer’s Guide by Jan Axelson, author of many books on embedded-system development, is now in its fourth edition.Software upgrade brings logic-analyzer-style insights to audio testing 6/9/2009
Audio Precision has announced several new features for its APx Series of audio analyzers. These features relate to the display, analysis, and control of metadata in HDMI (high-definition-multimedia interface); IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) 60598 standard, which defines the Toslink and S/PDIF (Sony/Philips digital-interface format) consumer digital-audio interfaces; and AES3/EBU (Audio Engineering Society 3/European Broadcast Union) digital-audio streams.Pulse/function/noise/arbitrary-waveform generator combines protocol- and physical-layer testing 6/4/2009
The need is intensifying to investigate and identify performance impairments resulting from imperfections in the physical layers of serial buses such as Flexray, an advanced data-transmission technology for communication among the many intelligent subsystems in modern motor vehicles.Passive scope probes offer bandwidths to 1.5 GHz for high-speed-digital applications 6/3/2009
Agilent Technologies has introduced the N2870A family of miniature passive oscilloscope probes and accessories with bandwidths from dc to 1.5 GHz. The probes’ 2.5-mm-diameter heads cover only one-fourth the surface area of earlier probes’ 5-mm-diameter heads.Scope-based tools support complete debugging and compliance testing of Superspeed USB 3.0 6/2/2009
Tektronix’s new DPO (digital-phosphor-oscilloscope)/DSA (digital-signal-analyzer) 70000B family is now available with a USB-TX option, which, with the press of a button, allows you to automatically and rapidly validate USB (Universal Serial Bus) 3.0 Superspeed transmitters.In-Depth
40- and 100-Gbps Ethernet brings new test challenges 4/23/2009
IEEE P802.3ba will define an architecture for 40- and 100-Gbps Ethernet, giving rise to new test equipment and test techniques.The Hot 100 Electronic Products of 2008 12/15/2008
EDN's editors offer up their annual list of the year's 100 most significant ICs, components, buses, boards, EDA tools, power devices, test instruments, and more.Mysterious data errors 12/15/2008
Tales From The Cube: Input of 12 sequential 1s causes a data-collection system to output garbled data. This looks like a job for 12-gauge AWG wire.Measure power-supply-loop transfer 12/5/2008
Using a function generator and an oscilloscope, you can measure gain and phase shift versus frequency in a power supply's control loop.Stick to the schematic 10/30/2008
Tales From The Cube: How do you get a 1.6-GHz oscillation from a 1.2-GHz part? When you assigned an intern to build your circuit.Experts
The design-and-test merger 6/26/2008
An effective design-and-test strategy will require a holistic effort across the entire chip-design and -production ecosystem.Pointy tips: How to straighten bent oscilloscope probe tips 5/29/2008
My high-speed-oscilloscope probes were bent so badly that they looked like elf shoes. Here's how I fixed them.Scrape it: How to probe a microstrip trace with no accessible test points or vias 4/28/2008
The lowly scraper is the best tool for the job. Given the right curvature, you can scrape a path just wide enough to reveal a trace under test without exposing other nearby features.External instruments here to stay 3/20/2008
Whatever the interface standard, real external instruments and systems that gather test data and external software that performs yield-learning and other analysis tasks must supplant embedded instruments.Setting up your oscilloscope to measure jitter 10/3/2007
Because real-time oscilloscopes are workhorses in any laboratory, it’s important to know how to get the most out of them. Jitter measurements are particularly sensitive to their environment.DesignIdeas
