@luizcosta, if I'm understanding right, if you just plugged a USB cable through the test enclosure to connect the DUT, the USB cable would act as an antenna, reacting to signals outside the test chamber and altering the test results. The "USB feed-through filter" on that slide is just a part of the test enclosure that gets rid of this external noise and provides a cleaner test environment.
@LevitonDave: Thanks for the feedback. I thought I understod the "bad-of-nails" metaphor. The USB, I am confused about its purpose in the RF link as shown in Session 3 slide 6. Why would one do that?
@luizcosta - Bed-of-Nails is a connection technique used to probe a PC Board by using "pins" and pressing the board onto these pins. The term is due to the pins looking like the old torture device by teh same name.
USB - Universal Serial Bus - the same port that is on your computer used for memory sticks (thumb drives)
@Fanny: If I understood correctly, audio file that JI referred to was just the audio, not the whole broadcast. When I go to the archive, I get the whole broadcast repeated. Did I miss something?
@bigchin - the audio for the presentations can be listened to again from the "archives" link in the menu above. contact me directly if you want to download your own copy of the audio file to learn how I have dowlnloaded them
for 315 MHz we would be in the near field, but may be in the stable field. We would need to use thicker absorptive foam, on the order of 4", but we can make things work
in some cases there exist precalibrated golden units, for example there are certified measurement antennas with guarangeed signal shape and power, but these are very expensive and may be unnecessary in production if proper calibration exists,
Fanny - how low in frequency does teh OctoBox go? we have test requrements at the 315 MHz range and suspect that those frequencies might be difficult to address in a "portable" absorbed solution.
phase may be important when testing MIMO devices. but there may be a way to isolate and test each of the MIMO radios by itself, which would be more reliable. phase may be difficult to get right, particularly at 6 GHz.
typically steel works well. you need good high frequency plating for seals and gasketing in the right places. right angle seals help prevent leakage. does this help?
the golden unit is indeed tricky. the tricky part is characterizing it on its own in open air. And this woudl require a discussion with specific examples.
@Fanny How do you make/create a golden unit - this seems like the hard part. And once you made one, and decided it's "gold" how to you ever make another that is identical?...
Hello Fanny - (reposted) looking at today's slides, and looking more closely at your octoBox. Is this made from basic material (metals?) or are there proprietary electronic or some other structure that isolates one chamber from the other. Just a breif explanation would be helpful to more fully understand the material you are presenting. Thanks
If you haven't told us yet, please let us know 1) Are you involved with production test? If yes, what radio technology and applications are you working with?, 2) what is your role in production test?, 3) in your production test setup are you using test instruments or a golden master device?, 4) do you have high production yields or is there room for improvement?
@ANN: Are you getting any of our questions? If you are and you don't think they should not be addressed now: I understand you want our feedback, but don't you think that a two way participation will be more active learning?
I'm not sure when to ask this - but I really would like to understand how you make/create a golden unit - this seems like the hard part. And once you made one, and decided it's "gold" how to you ever make another that is identical?...
If you haven't told us yet, please let us know 1) Are you involved with production test? If yes, what radio technology and applications are you working with?, 2) what is your role in production test?, 3) in your production test setup are you using test instruments or a golden master device?
For applications the have RF connection that go to an external antenna, could the master and the DUT be connected through a cabled connection with an characterized attenuator between them to remove variances in the antenna to air interface?
A tombstone cap is a SMT solder defect where the surface tension of the solder on one of the solder pads causes the part to pivot up off the other pad and stand up straight like a tombstone. Happens more often with smaller parts.
For those who have commented about asking questions orally, please know that this is part of the format of the Digi-Key Continuing Education Center program.
@Ann: provide troubleshooting support during production test. Would you consider simply typing your questions into the Live Chat instead of interrupting the audio?
Hello Fanny - looking at today's slides, and looking more closely at your octoBox. Is this made from basic material (metals?) or are there proprietary electronic or some other structure that isolates one chamber from the other. Just a breif explanation would be helpful to more fully understand the material you are presenting. Thanks
Sustaining Engineering Project Leader, the company designs and manufactures Guided Wave RADAR liquid level gauges for the tank truck industry. Wireless applications are Bluetooth now, future may be WiFi.
The streaming audio player will appear on this web page when the show starts at 2pm eastern today. Note however that some companies block live audio streams. If when the show starts you don't hear any audio, try refreshing your browser.
A new battery design, which replaces lithium with abundant and low-cost elemental sulfur, is still in its nascent stages but shows real promise for giving batteries more energy potential.
PTC will offer a virtual desktop environment for its Creo product design applications, potentially freeing engineers to run them from remote desktops on a variety of operating systems and mobile devices.
The push to achieving more intelligent, integrated manufacturing is putting a strong focus on networking and connectivity as key enabling technologies.
Now that solar and wind harvesting technologies are a thriving market, researchers are seeking other environmentally related energy sources for which they can create harvesting devices.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
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