News - Board and System Test

New PXI Controller supports four Test Technologies

30 April 2013 – With the new PXI-based controller for ASSET InterTech’s ScanWorks platform for debug, validation and test, engineers can test circuit boards with four different toolsets, each based on a different test technology. Operating from a personal computer and a PXI chassis, the new ScanWorks PXI-1000 controller can apply boundary-scan tests based on the IEEE 1149.1/6 standards (JTAG), processor-controlled tests (PCT), FPGA-controlled tests (FCT) and access instruments embedded in chips via the IEEE P1687 Internal JTAG (IJTAG) standard.

“The PXI-1000 is a high-throughput controller that can be installed in a PXI chassis. It allows ScanWorks to be integrated seamlessly into a number of test executives, including LabView, LabWindows, TestStand, TestStudio, Visual Studio and others,” said Kent Zetterberg, product manager for ASSET. “Users are able to debug or test an attached circuit board, validate its performance, program chips or operate the IJTAG instruments embedded in devices on the board.”

Each of the four test technologies supported by ScanWorks and its PXI-1000 controller has its own strengths. Boundary scan, for example, will detect structural shorts and opens on chip-to-chip interconnects, program on-board devices or test memory access. PCT performs functional routines to find structural faults and program devices. FCT temporarily inserts a board tester into a functional field programmable gate array (FPGA) on the board to perform a variety of tests. And with ScanWorks’ IJTAG tools, users are able to access and operate embedded on-chip instruments which conform to the IEEE P1687 IJTAG standard or the IEEE 1500 standard for embedded core test.

The PXI-1000 comes with a single-port interface pod for connecting ScanWorks to the board being tested. As many as eight controllers can be installed in one PXI chassis for testing multiple circuit boards simultaneously. In addition, the PXI-1000 controller can manage and monitor as many as eight non-boundary-scan discrete input/output (DIO) signals. Each DIO signal can be manipulated individually by ScanWorks.

Several e-books and white papers describing various embedded instrumentation test methodologies can be downloaded from the ASSET web site.

Pricing and Availability

The PXI-1000 ScanWorks platform controller is available now from ASSET InterTech and its distributors. Pricing starts at $4,995.

www.asset-intertech.com/

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