"By integrating ASSET's ScanWorks
boundary scan test system with NI's TestStand test management
software, test technicians will find it much easier
to apply a diverse suite of tests to a circuit board,"
said Starkloff. "The flexibility inherent in a
PXI-based test platform with NI TestStand ensures the
easy deployment of test strategies that are best suited
to the circuit board or subsystem being tested."
ScanWorks has long been capable of
seamless integration under tools such as NI's TestStand™,
LabVIEW™ and LabWindows/CVI™, as well as
Visual Basic. A PXI-based test platform with ScanWorks
improves the productivity of electronic test operations
because ScanWorks' extensive test and diagnostic capabilities
can be employed on the same platform where functional
tests and analog measurements are performed.
"Functional test is being used
more and more because physical access to devices on
printed circuit boards is disappearing as a result of
very dense semiconductor packages like ball grid arrays
(BGA) and others," said Dave Bonnett, technical
marketing manager for ScanWorks. "Without physical
access, testing and diagnosing the structural integrity
of a printed circuit board with in-circuit test (ICT)
equipment is often impractical or impossible. But with
the boundary-scan capabilities of ScanWorks on a PXI
platform test, technicians can quickly test the board's
structural integrity before its functionality is verified.
If boundary scan identifies some sort of fault, ScanWorks
can be used to pinpoint the source of the problem before
a lot of time and energy is spent on functional test."
In addition to testing a circuit board,
ScanWorks running on a PXI-based platform with the new
PXI-100 controller can load new software or software
updates into programmable logic devices (PLDs) and flash
memory after these devices have been soldered onto a
board. This in-system programming (ISP) is much faster
than removing devices from the board and programming
each one individually. It also reduces handling and
enables just-in-time product configuration before functional
test.
PXI-100 Controller
The PXI-100 ScanWorks controller card
conforms to the PXI specification and takes one standard
3U slot in a PXI card cage. The PXI-100 has programmable
test application speeds up to 16.6 MHz. ScanWorks with
the PXI-100 controller is capable of applying test data
to the board under test at a rate of 16.6 megabits per
second (Mbps) without gating the system's test clock
during scan operations.
The PXI-100 with ASSET's Buffer Pods,
including the new Four-Tap
Buffer Pod, supports a broad range of reference
voltages from 1.8V to 5.0V. In addition, the PXI-100
provides differential output signals allowing the single-tap
pod, multiple-tap pod, or a test fixture to be located
more than 16 feet from the PXI card cage and still achieve
speeds up to 16.6 MHz.
For more information on the PXI-100,
click
here.
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