Mobile apps for smartphones and tablets have key roles to play in the electronics test-and-measurement engineering ecosystem. They can help you find the products you need, they can serve as convenient sources of reference information, and they can play an active role in controlling your test equipment and acquiring measurement data. Some recent initiatives illustrate advances in all three areas.
For example, Talley, the distributor of wireless infrastructure and communications products, recently introduced the Talley 2.0 app, which puts the company’s catalog on a mobile device. It features test-and-measurement companies including Anritsu, Bird Technologies, JDSU, and Megger.
You can browse manufacturers, obtain industry information, and make direct purchases for your wireless solution. The Talley App also highlights certified training, events, and product promotions.
AR RF/Microwave Instrumentation also has introduced a mobile app—the AR App of Knowledge for Android and iOS devices (Figure 1). The app describes the company’s products, presenting basic descriptions and full datasheets. It also provides the company’s catalog as well as a collection of application notes, including titles such as “Field Analyzers in EMC Radiated Immunity Testing;” “Antenna Far Field Distances;” “RF Amplifier Output Voltage, Current, Power, and Impedance Relationship;” “Conducted Transients in Road Vehicles’ Supply Lines;” and “Importance of Mismatch Tolerance for Amplifiers Used in Susceptibility Testing.”
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Figure 1. AR App of Knowledge mobile app Courtesy AR RF/Microwave Instrumentation |
In addition, a YouTube capability offers product demonstrations and addresses topics such as RF propagation. For example, one video describes how to use a booster amplifier to extend the communications distance of military and commercial radio, given known terrain (trees and hills) or other environmental factors (such as buildings or steel structures). The app can be downloaded free from Apple iTunes and Google Play.
Adding apps to instrument systems
Keysight (formerly Agilent) Technologies and National Instruments are two companies that have pioneered the integration of mobile devices and mobile apps into the test-and-measurement environment, offering solutions for remote monitoring and control of instrumentation.
Keysight, for example, in the first quarter of 2012, introduced a wireless solution that could connect up to three handheld DMMs to smartphones or tablets running the company’s Mobile Meter or Mobile Logger app. The customer would simply attach a U1177A Bluetooth wireless adapter to an appropriate meter to establish a connection to a mobile device running one of the apps.1
Since then, Keysight has expanded the number of instruments that can work with the Bluetooth adapter. By the end of 2012, the company had added wireless connectivity to its U1210 Series clamp meter along with new capabilities, including voice output and remote hosting, to the Mobile Meter and Mobile Logger apps.
And in June, the company introduced the U1117A infrared-to-Bluetooth adapter, which extends the range of what the company calls its Remote Link Solution up to 100 meters, an increase from up to 10 meters with the original adapter.*
By adding the adapter to a compatible Keysight handheld meter, engineers can remotely view measurement results from the new U1115A remote logging display and iOS/Android smart devices or on a Windows PC.
Also in June, the company added the U1450A/60A Series 1-kV insulation resistance testers that measure leakage current and insulation resistance for preventive maintenance applications, such as checking the integrity of windings or cables in motors, transformers, and electrical installations. The U1450A/60A Series instruments are all compatible with Remote Link and come with report-generation software that engineers can use to produce error-free automated test reports in table and graph forms.
Apps at the bench
National Instruments also has been a pioneer in the engineering mobile-app space, with its engineers having identified use cases such as data acquisition (and especially wireless data acquisition), remote monitoring and control, reference (documentation replacement), and development augmentation.2
With its latest product, NI might be expanding that list of use cases to include local measurement and control. Note that Keysight’s Remote Link-compatible instruments retain their user interface with displays, knobs, and buttons. The goal is to give users a choice of operating their meters remotely instead of, for example, in a harsh, noisy, and possibly hazardous environment.
In contrast, National Instruments is extending the app or PC software model into the lab benchtop with its VirtualBench, a compact all-in-one instrument that integrates a mixed-signal oscilloscope, function generator, digital multimeter, programmable DC power supply, and digital I/O. There are no duplicative displays and knobs for each instrument function with associated costs. In fact, there are no displays or knobs at all. The instrument’s exterior includes one button: an on/off switch. The user interface is entirely subsumed within an iPad app or PC software (Figure 2).
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Figure 2. iPad with VirtualBench instrument Courtesy of National Instruments |
Chris Delvizis, senior product manager at NI, said, “We think the next generation of engineers will come to expect the same UI found on PCs and mobile devices. We set out to build a better benchtop instrument to take advantage of the latest UI technology.”
NI’s innovation is to consolidate a popular combination of instrumentation and provide the PC- or iPad-resident software that speeds the engineer’s design task while minimizing cost, programming effort, and bench real estate. Delvizis estimated that the $1,999 VirtualBench could replace $5,940 worth of separate benchtop instruments.
Delvizis quoted Russell Stanphil, electronics advisor at TechShop (the open-access public workshop popular among the maker culture), as saying, “Before, I didn’t have the room or budget to buy a full setup for each bench. I can now park one laptop and a VirtualBench on each seat, replacing four to five boxes.”
References
Nelson, R., “Bluetooth Enables Wireless Datalogging,” EE-Evaluation Engineering, May 2012.
Nelson, R., “Mobile Apps Support Communications Test, Data Acquisition,” EE-Evaluation Engineering, January 2012.
*Editor’s Note
Our June Special Report on remote monitoring, published in late May, stated that the Remote Link capability had a range of up to 10 meters. The online version has been updated to reflect the up to 100-meter range introduced June 2.