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Testing and measurement of quality are essential processes in a foundry. Testing, inspection and measurement are important in each casting production process, starting with pattern and die design, moldmaking and coremaking, chemical analyses of heats, and finishing. Quality control processes include hardness testing, leak testing, visual inspection, fracture tests, liquid penetrant inspection, magnetic particle inspection, machine vision, ultrasonic testing, eddy current testing, radiography and spectrography., High quality castings depend on the ability of a foundry to test and inspect all raw materials - sand, metals, alloys, and additions. Testing, inspection, and measurement are critical in [...]

You can take advantage of the reprogrammability of SRAM-based FPGAs by programming the part with test logic during a system diagnostics routine, running the boundary-scan system or board tests, and [...]

A statistically based understanding of your design's performance can help you make improvements quickly and with confidence. Software that designs valid experiments can help you gain that understanding--and it's cheaper [...]

When you hit the road, expect the unexpected. Here's how executives prepare for business travel and the strategies and tactics they use to circumnavigate trouble. Debbi Fields was a reluctant […]

Mixers are ubiquitous. They are critical components in the realization of a wide range of radio-frequency (RF) and microwave systems. However, to determine a mixer's suitability for a particular application, […]

Modern digital multimeters (DMMs) offer more sensitive measurements and more sophisticated features than ever before. The measurement realm of the DMM now includes lower voltages (microvolt to nanovolt), lower currents […]

Low process yields require that complex ASICs have test programs with high fault coverage. Unfortunately, conventional methods of automatic-test-pattern generation attempt to create test vectors by considering only the structural […]

A critical element in a digital transmission system is how error-free its transmissions are. This measurement is made by a bit-error-rate tester (BERT), which replaces one or more of the […]

Computer-aided engineering (CAE) tools can help pc-board designers predict and correct transmission-line effects in all stages of design. Designers can use tools before beginning board layout, following component placement and after routing. Tools can either be for analysis or screening. Analysis tools examine individual signal traces and allow for study of the circuit's behavior in detail using simulated waveforms. Analysis tools are good for establishing design rules before beginning pc-board layout. Screening tools allow designers to check for transmission-line effects after they know what the circuit will tolerate. Screening tools all calculate transmission-line effects but calculate them in different ways. Different vendors have tradeoffs between speed and accuracy. Designers need to evaluate the accuracy they need as well as cost and computer type when choosing CAE tools.

Payoff for IC, analyzer cooperation Tighter collaboration between IC and logic analyzer makers is resulting in better and faster support for leading-edge processors, design changes on both sides, and the [...]

Combine a high-performance, dual-channel pulse generator having burst and pseudorandom bit-stream capabilities with a high-band-width sampling oscilloscope for an effective and reliable way to characterize high-speed drivers. Both manufacturers and [...]

Great to use with mouse or keyboard, most GUI programs are loved by users. But these same virtues make them a bear to test. Those who attend computer trade shows […]

Spectrum analyzers are somewhat esoteric instruments. The frequency domain still holds some mystery for many designers, especially at RF levels. But increasing use of digital technology in spectrum analyzers is […]

With all of the powerful features and functions added to digital oscilloscopes in recent years, it may be easy to overlook one very important attribute: ease of use. Learning to […]

THE LONDON Market Faculty has thrown its support behind the new Lloyd's & London Market Introductory Test. The insurance test, designed to help drive up standards of knowledge, performance and [...]

Creating Web-based applications on a tight time line isn't easy, but iterative development, teamwork, and careful testing can help you get the job done -- with less time and money […]

WHEN THE $125 MILLION Mars Orbiter satellite crashed into Mars instead of going into orbit around it on Sept 24, NASA soon found the cause. Apparently, some of the Orbiter's [...]

Sharing Testing Responsibilities in the Starbase/X11 Merge System WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF the Starbase/X11 Merge environment, new forms of testing had to be considered. Before the Starbase/X11 Merge project, the […]

BRINGING DOWN THE COSTS OF ATE Makers of automatic test equipment are hoping to break out of a collective slump by giving customers what they have long clamored for: alternatives […]

Bus-analysis tools isolate tough problems If your systems incorporate standard microcomputer or minicomputer backplane buses, consider adding some of the troubleshooting aids specifically designed for those buses to your troubleshooter's [...]

Revisiting DBMS Benchmarks The DebitCredit benchmark has become the most widely accepted standard for measuring commercial systems performance. Although never intended as such, it has become--by common extension--the single most […]

Units transform PCs into DSOs Few products can make electronic design engineers wax poetic. Certainly most EEs are not given to poetry when discussing the test instruments they use to [...]

Chirp-Z transform efficiently computes frequency spectra Analog and mixed-signal (analog/digital) devices continue to grow in speed, complexity, and accuracy. To characterize and test these increasingly intricate products, engineers must use [...]

MONTGOMERY, Ala.--With fewer people available to test systems before deployment, the Operations and Research Division at the Air Force Standard Systems Center has turned to modeling and simulation programs. Before […]

How Loebner spends his money in his private life is his own business. But when he spends it in a public way, when he leverages it with the scarce resources […]

If you want to hear how frustrating the Government Open Systems Interconnection Profile certification process can be, talk to the folks at SynOptics Communications Inc. Last year, the certification process […]

To reassure users buying 'Pentium-ready' or 'Pentium-upgradable' PC systems that the systems will actually work as advertised, Intel Corp. has opened a lab to verify system manufacturers' claims. For a […]

The number of Electronic Mail messages sent annually will grow from 3.9 billion messages in 1992 to over 14 billion messages by 1995, according to figures from the Electronic Mail […]

AC current probes based on current transformers don't pass dc information. This limitation typically forces you to use more expensive dc current probes to analyze asymmetrical start-up waveforms such as [...]

Feds urge vendors to use more realistic speed measurements When does a fast computer suddenly get faster? It often happens when a manufacturer touts the results of its benchmark tests. […]

The Defense Commercial Communications Office plans to complete its first PC purchase electronically today when it awards a contract for a single 33-MHz 486DX machine. The buy for the Army's […]

EIGHT WAYS TO LEAVE YOUR 286: THE INSTALLATION PROCESS HARDWARE TECHNICAL ANALYST MICHAEL CATON UPGRADES A 286 PC AT PC WEEK LABS IN MEDFORD, MASS. -------------------- By Michael Caton To […]

Remaining current with the latest computer equipment is like trying to keep track of George Bush's standing in the polls. Access to state-of-the-art technology helps a person make more informed […]

FBI WATCH... Modernizing the nationwide automated fingerprint identification system (AFIS) should top the FBI's to-do list, according to the Office of Technology Assessment. A new OTA report portrays a state-of-the-art […]

There are many things I do with cardboard boxes. I stow papers in some of the nice boxes we get our Xerox paper in, and we stow circuits and parts […]

CALS Now A Reality For AFLC DAYTON, Ohio -- The Air Force Logistics Command and General Electric Aircraft Engines Corp. will sign the first contract for delivery of digital design […]

Meter quickly measures low-speed rpm The tachometry circuit in Fig 1 accurately measures rotating machinery's surface speed in one revolution by taking the reciprocal of the period. The circuit produces [...]

As I climbed into my neighbor's car, I nearly sat on his daughter's "Speak and Spell" toy; but it was, in fact, a portable automated external defribrilator (AED) his company [...]

The Clinical Laboratory Improvement Advisory Committee (CLIAC) met in Atlanta, Feb. 11-12, 2004, with a conviction from its leaders to give the FDA and industry a long-awaited draft of criteria [...]

Q We discovered that we had several medical technologists omitting a maintenance-check step in the automated procedure for our routine chemistry tests. The step is part of the written daily [...]

The late physicist Richard Feynman once reviewed a proposed school textbook that included a problem that related colors of stars to their temperatures. After listing the stars that a child […]

A new service from Digital Equipment Corp. uses a proven and time-tested, albeit relatively slow, means to transmit NetWare data collected at a user site back to Digital's artificial intelligence-based […]

Compatibility has always been an issue for PC buyers. The IBM PC standard has passed well beyond the hands of IBM into an unofficial holding company composed of Microsoft, Intel, […]

The Navy's submarine forces got their first glimpse into a wartime communications system that can achieve 64 kilobit/sec transfer rates between submarines and commands located on shore. During a two-day […]

I've been watching the most recent round of bus wars and been curious as to whether to get involved with the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus used in the latest […]

The National Institute of Standards and Technology is building a test bed with which agencies can try out components of electronic data interchange. NIST's Electronic Commerce Integration Facility will develop […]