50th Anniversary Issue is Online with News of PXIe, Cloud Computing, and More
PXIe affords significant opportunities as a test-system architecture because of its high throughput, yet PXI remains the cost-effective choice for many applications, according to Senior Editor Tom Lecklider, reporting in our April 2012 Special Report.
The April issue also provides details on RF/microwave signal analyzers in various modular and standalone configurations, cloud computing and its relevance to test, and signal integrity and the instruments that can measure it. In addition, we celebrate 50 years of EE-Evaluation Engineering with an interview with founder Vern Nelson.
Innovations in PXI and PXIe include hybrid chassis that can let you mix and match PXI and PXIe modules for optimum price/performance, reports Lecklider. But what if both PXI and PXIe run out of steam. Will both give way to AXIe? Lecklider looks at some industry participants' views on that issue in his Special Report.
As for signal integrity, it's been a problem since the transatlantic cables of early telephone systems, but the problems have only gotten worse as high-speed digital communications channels proliferate and data rates rise. SI problems might not be easy to solve, but at least you can identify them with instruments including BERTs, oscilloscopes, vector network analyzers, time-interval analyzers, and dedicated signal-integrity analysis solutions, as Lecklider describes in “Helping Signals Retain Their Individuality.”
It's no surprise that communications standards are proliferating. New ones regularly arise, and the old ones never seem to go away. It's not practical to maintain a collection of instruments dedicated to a specific standard, but you can choose a flexible signal analyzer that offer software support for whatever standard (or for that matter custom signal format) you must contend with. The article “Enabling Flexible RF/Microwave Measurements” describes the modular and standalone instruments from which you can choose.
If you need to collect and store a lot of data and access it from anywhere, you might consider turning to the cloud. The article “Cloud Affords Clear View of Test Data” describes how to exploit pubic clouds without taking on 24×7 IT responsibilities or hiring your own IT department.
EE-Evaluation Engineering is 50 years old this year, meaning we've been offering “49.99 Years of DMM Coverage” as well as, of course, coverage of the gamut of evaluation and test instrumentation, trends, and technologies. We take a look back at the past 50 years with an interview with Founder, Editor, and Publisher Vern Nelson. You can help us celebrate by testing your knowledge of industry history by taking this quiz. You could win an Android tablet.
On the occasion of EE's 25th anniversary, Vern Nelson wrote, “As we look to the future, we want to thank you for sharing your valuable time over the past 25 years by reading EE. When we consider editorial material for EE, we ask a very basic question, ‘What will this do for our readers?’ That is the bottom line we have used in the past and will continue to use as EE moves into the next 25 years.”
From the vantage point of 2012, the EE editorial staff commits to meeting the same bottom line as we look ahead to the next 50 years.
Finally, don't forget to peruse our Product Picks, in which we look at oscilloscopes, a web server for thermocouple measurements, a PCB current prober, a HALT and HASS controller, PXI power matrices, a clock-recovery instrument, and more.
Visit the complete April table of contents here.
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