Aeroflex to add Boundary Scan,<br>Q-Test and a PXI to its 5800 Series

The Aeroflex 5800 Series is a highly flexible, scalable and modular test environment designed to provide the true re-configurability needed to meet the ever-changing requirements of the rapidly evolving PCB industry. Boundary scan provides the basis for observing and controlling the boundary pins of a JTAG compatible device via software enabling in-circuit testing to be undertaken without the need for bed-of-nails equipment. Boundary scan tackles the issue of rising test development costs particularly associated with high density, complex surface mount devices coupled with the reduction in nodal access. Boundary scan allows devices to be accessed via four dedicated pins known as the Test Access Port (TAP). The TAP can be used either for testing single devices or, by daisy chaining, groups of devices connected together. A typical boundary scan test strategy usually comprises six elements: boundary scan path check, device identification checks (IDCODE), interconnect tests, device internal tests (INTEST), device built-in-self test (BIST) and external tests (EXTEST). Q-Test test enables both analog and digital devices plus connectors to be tested for pin connectivity without detailed information on the device under test. In practice, only pin list data is required to generate, debug and test, even for high pin-out devices. The Q-Test features comprise simplified vector testing, inductive or capacitive signal pickup for broad applications, graphical user set-up and flexible mounting for detection circuitry. The PXI software wrapper tool allows PXI cards to be quickly and easily integrated into the Aeroflex software environment without .NET assemblies. However, the new tool is not just restricted to PXI cards and can also be used for most instrument drivers including DLLs.