» eeProductCenter's Alex
Mendelsohn says, "WOW" in his review of the LeCroy scope that was voted
number one in terms of both technical significance and usability in
this category.
(1) LECROY New sampling technique underpins 100-GHz-bandwidth scopes eeProductCenter's Alex Mendelsohn says:
"
Wow. LeCroy's new 100-GHz bandwidth WaveExpert 9000 and SDA 100G
mainframes combine the high bandwidth and accuracy of sampling
oscilloscopes with the speed--and utility--of realtime scopes.
You even get a realtime oscilloscope user interface that sports a set
of math functions. What's more, it's based on the same user interface
used in the company's WaveMaster realtime scopes.
The on-screen interface gives you access to more than 50 measurements
and math functions, and you can create additional custom functions
using applications such as Matlab, Mathcad or Excel, or any other
Windows-compatible programming language for that matter.
" Readers say:
» "Looks like a useful product."
» "Should be very useful in development/testing of wireless broadband devices."
» "Could make analyzing Satellite datacomm problems easier, particularly at the new higher rates."
» "Excellent product."
» "It is a great digital scope."
» "It is a perfect device but very expensive for our pocket"
USABILITY RANK: 1
(2) FIBERBYTE Modules give synchronous realtime control on USB eeProductCenter's Alex Mendelsohn says:
"As you can garner from Fiberbyte's detailed and exhaustive press
release, this is an unusual and relevant product for deterministic
applications. Not said is that the USB-inSync topology is comprised of
distributed I/O and hi-density stacking multi-function modules that let
you synchronously control, trigger, and sample, using multiple modules
on a single USB (Universal Serial Bus) port. These modules are also
DIN-rail mountable.
" Readers say: » "Could be good for monitoring several high-quality sound channels simultaeously."
» "A novel idea. Well written and informative."
» "Excellent product."
» "Looking forward to a 24-bit system!"
USABILITY RANK: 2
(3) TEKTRONIX Logic analyzers tackle complexity with automation eeProductCenter's Alex Mendelsohn says:
"Tektronix continues evolving its logic analyzer product line, and the
company now claims it has leapfrogged Agilent Technologies in the
marketplace. Aside from who has market share, though, Tek's new
hardware and software offers a number of roll-up-your sleeves
advancements you'll appreciate.
Innovation and ease-of-use is important as your own effort at product
differentiation virtually forces adoption of new technologies (such as
DDR-2 memories or serial buses). Designers everywhere are now
encountering the proverbial sea of data. How you sail across that sea,
and how you interpret voluminous waves of data into information, can
dictate product success or disaster.
The TLA7012 portable and the TLA7016 benchtop analyzer, both considered
mainframes, are modular instruments that accept logic analyzer and
pattern generator modules. These extensible analyzers can support
analysis of up to 6,528 channels (!) with as many as 48 independent
buses, letting you view data in waveform, listing, source code, or
histogram displays. That makes cross-domain analysis very
straightforward.
" Readers say: » "Pricing appear attractive."
» "Excellent product."
» "We use Tek LA's and scopes more than any other brand here. This looks like another major advance on the LA front."
» "Nice, reasonably priced. Too bad it is Windows only. I hate it when my test equipment blue screens."
» "We just don't do anything that would justify this, fantastic as it is."
» "I like these although I am skeptical of the product life with booting Windows internally."
» "The automation would help to ease many potential errors."
USABILITY RANK: 3
(4) SIGNAMETRICS CORP. Less than $800 buys high-resolution DMM eeProductCenter's Alex Mendelsohn says:
"Those former Fluke engineers at Signametrics never sleep. The company
has plug-in modules for PCI, PXI, CompactPCI, and VXI, and it continues
to roll out innovative products. In fact, Signametrics now has more
than a dozen DMM (digital multimeter) modules in its stable; most are
6-1/2-digit and 7-1/2-digit DMMS.
As a fully differential and floating isolated instrument, its new
SMX2055 add to the mix at the low end. On its 240-mV range, the SMX2055
offers resolution to a microvolt. For less than $800, that's
remarkable.
" Readers say: » "Kind of high priced unless you are in the business of calibration. Day to day technician work makes this to high cost."
» "Hits price and performance targets."
» "Excellent product."
» "Good value."
» "Very competitive and inexpensive."
» "Very high voltage drop at the current measurement."
» "$795!?! It's about cost."
» "Very nice, but overkill for what I need."
» "I might look at this for a new design."
» "Our PCI solution have been defined and unlikly to evaluate a 2nd vendor"
» "I am not using any PXI at this time. I have used the 2044 which works great!"
USABILITY RANK: 5
(5) ADLINK TECHNOLOGY $240 PCI drop-in is GPIB controller eeProductCenter's Alex Mendelsohn says:
"
Although Universal Serial Bus is increasingly being used to glue test
systems together, the tried-and-true IEEE-488 General Purpose Interface
Bus is still widely deployed, and there are lots of legacy
GPIB-compatible instruments out there, too. As such, ADLINK
Technology's PCI-3488 IEEE-488 controller card is a viable product with
wide appeal.
Once installed in a host PC, it can control up to 14
IEEE-488.2-compatible instruments, with high throughput, as these
graphs reflect.
" Readers say: » "Good price point. The data transfer rate does not match some scope-based applications."
» "Great low cost alternative to National Instruments, but not groundbreaking."
» "This is a big 'don't care'."
» "Excellent product."
» "Great price. We are trying to move away from 488, but so much of the equipment still supports it."
» "I would have to have more reason than price to go away from NI."
» "The price is very good. I"ll keep this card in mind as a replacement of the NI PCI-GPIB I just bought."
» "I currently use Agilent's GPIB card at $500, so the price and compatibility with Agilent IO libraries is attractive."
» "Looks reasonable although all my previous projects have used National cards and their API." USABILITY RANK: 4
(6) PENTEK Ultra-fast A/D board packs 2-GHz silicon eeProductCenter's Alex Mendelsohn says:
"Pentek continues to churn out DSP, SDR (software defined radio), and
ultra-high-speed data acquisition boards and systems at a prodigious
rate. Its wares now include boards for VME, VXS, PMC, XMC, and cPCI
form-factors. However, the company isn't alone in pursuing SDR designs.
Witness the Tek Microsystems board we recently reviewed. It costs about
$19,000. It's also a VXS-architecture board, operating with five
channels based on Analog Devices AD6645 chips. Unlike Pentek's
converters, these devices are 14-bit ICs, but sample at slower rates
than the lower-resolution Atmel chips.
" Readers say: » "Combining a fast A/D and an FPGA makes prototyping new communication technologies easier."
» "Expensive??"
» "Excellent product."
» "Neat product but who's still using VME? DSP IP is "available"? What & how much?"
USABILITY RANK: 9
(7) AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES Arbitrary waveform generator serves microwave design eeProductCenter's Alex Mendelsohn says:
"Agilent Technologies' low phase-noise N6031A AWG (arbitrary waveform
generator) module, using a CompactPCI backplane internally and to
connect to the chassis that it's plugged into, offers dual differential
output channels to drive both single-ended and balanced designs. Its
two independent channels are available as baseband or IF (intermediate
frequency) outputs.
With that, you get the choice of driving your circuitry differentially
from the module's DAC (digital-to-analog converters) outputs (which
improves common-mode rejection), or single-endedly through multiple
signal-conditioning paths. You can drive up to a volt (p-p) in
single-ended operation, and 0.5-V differentially.
" Readers say: » "Good specs for new technologies that need instrumentations."
» "Way to high priced for day to day operations. Most technicians only need a simple sig gen."
» "Excellent product."
» "Unique and very helpful device."
» "Great product but out of my price range (I like the 4 pack but for the price of a Ford GT)."
USABILITY RANK: 8
(8) ALAZARTECH PCI scope plug-in packs unique memory architecture eeProductCenter's Alex Mendelsohn says:
"
Although not as well known as, say, Measurement Computing or National
Instruments, AlazarTech has nonetheless carved out a respected position
for itself for PC-based instrumentation. As a spinoff of Gage Applied
Technologies, the company offers a number of PCI-compatible
8-bit-resolution and 12-bit-resolution plug-in digitizers. I covered
the company's 8-bit digitizer at eeProductCenter when it first arrived
on the scene.
While AlazarTech counts itself as a vendor of fast PCI products, speed
alone isn't the only differentiating factor that makes its cards
noteworthy. Indeed, AlazarTech concentrates on providing usability
features for its digitizers. That emphasis is what can help you
integrate them into your applications.
Another factor is that the company makes extensive use of COTS
(commercial off-the-shelf) analog components to keep cost under
control. It also uses FPGA (field programmable gate arrays) to endow
its wares with the latest features.
" Readers say: » "High cost. Would love to be able to combine test equipment into a PC, but cost prohibits that."
» "Cool!"
» "Excellent product."
» "Good price performance on this unit."
» "Linux support sounds like an afterthought. MSIE required, give me a break."
» "Interesting but I have no idea where I would use one."
USABILITY RANK: 7
(9) NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS PCI, PXI plug-ins pack eighty high-resolution A/D channels eeProductCenter's Alex Mendelsohn says:
"About a year ago I reported on National Instruments' (NI) rollout of
its M Series boards. At the time, they were billed by NI as the next
generation of multi-function DAQ (data acquisition) products, and they
made use of the company's NI-STC 2 system controller chip and NI-PGIA 2
amplifier (composed of a family of discrete components). These first
multi-function DAQ boards offered better accuracy than predecessors, as
well as faster sampling rates, a set of expanded features, and up to 32
I/O channels.
With the news of NI's PCI-6225 and PXI-6225 M Series DAQ boards, I/O
now includes a whopping count of 80 high-res analog channels. And,
these 3U-sized boards can be used in either 3.3-V or 5-V environments
with PCI bus or PXI systems.
" Readers say: » "Our firm actually
performs services for National..."
» "That's a lot of channels!"
» "Excellent product."
» "These look like a very cost-effective solution to me!"
» "Great price/channel. We use a lot of analog inputs."
» "Don't need that many channels right now."
» "COST."
» "Looks nice, just not something I would have used in previous designs
where I either needed cheap and simple or very high accuracy and
tracable calibration."
USABILITY RANK: 6
(10) ZTEC INSTRUMENTS High-performance scope plug-ins pack on-board DSP eeProductCenter's Alex Mendelsohn says:
"As promised in ZTEC Instrument's press release, it's now shipping its
DSP-equipped ZT450 digital storage oscilloscopes. The company's press
statement is exhaustive, but there are a few more items worth
mentioning about these nifty plug-in oscilloscope cards.
Kudos to ZTEC for its various versions of these modular
8-bit-resolution scopes. You can choose a product for either PXI, VXI,
or PCI systems. Inherent versatility also lets you choose whether or
not you need two or four input channels, too, which makes the product
line cost-effective in application. The same can be said for the
waveform memory options. " Readers say: » "We are moving more
toward this type of test configs. even at tha low volume of hardware we
experience."
» "Excellent product."
» "I want a CRT with my scope, but auto testing capability will become
a bigger part of our low quantity manufacturing capability in future."
USABILITY RANK: 10
