Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of testing

It's summertime! The beaches beckon, the mountains inspire, and engineers' minds turn to thoughts of – test instruments!

 Yes, July is the month in which Electronic Products traditionally devotes the issue to looking at key developments in the field of Test & Measurement. And this year, as always, we think you'll find that our contributing authors have some very interesting points to make, things you'll want to ponder while you sip your margaritas in the sand.

 For instance, Brig Asay of Agilent points out how the oscilloscope, the essential engineering design tool, has undergone an amazing leap in bandwidth capability in the last five years. We are now at a point where the fundamental architectures of scopes are changing, and the major top end players are following different paths to the future.

 Then we look at a new path for developing test, packaging, and assembly methods for the next blockbuster technology: MEMS. A trio of authors – Matt Apanius, Roger Grace, and Chip Spangler – is needed to make clear how a new kind of facility – The Richard Desich SMART Commercialization Center for Microsystems (DSMC) – is providing the tools need to close the final gap been design and the marketplace.

 Alan Lowne, CEO of the noted instrument supplier Saelig, gives readers a way to tackle a common but difficult problem, troubleshooting analog components in situ on a pc board. (Interestingly, this problem was the topic of a lengthy exchange on a popular EE Website just last month.) The technique he describes, analog signature analysis, can save a lot of time and effort, avoiding the need for desoldering components – and possibly ruining the board – to pinpoint a problem.

 The issue continues on-line with articles from Todd Dobberstein of National Instruments and from Prashanth Thota of Tektronix. Todd looks at how Moore’s Law is impacting data-logging requirements, while Prashanth explains how a new feature of oscilloscopes called area-based triggering can help ease the work of troubleshooting DDR memory.

 So enjoy the issue at your leisure, and if you want to add your own observations to those of the authors, just click on the article you'd like to discuss and simply add your comments at the bottom of that web page.

 That's it for now. Gotta go; surf's up!