This 50 MHz pulse generator was built as solid as a rock. It’s almost all metal. We take the unit completely apart and look at it from a system and board level. On a visit to the MIT swapfest in 2024, I came across an HP 8112A 50 MHz pulse generator. For $20, I brought […]
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OFC 2025: Test equipment
This year’s OFC in San Francisco featured one thing, or so it seemed: 1.6T. Every company making optical modules was showing them lest they be left behind in the always accelerating data rate race. As with any emerging technology, test equipment must lead the way. After all, how do you know if anything works unless […]
APEC 2025 test equipment: power sources and loads
Powering electronic devices requires the testing of power supply and charging circuits, battery management systems (BMSs), and battery cells. Many of these circuits require voltage, current, and power measurements, plus numerous others. Oscilloscopes and probes let you see the waveforms in power-delivery circuits, but the circuits themselves may need simulated batteries and simulated loads. That’s […]
APEC 2025 test equipment: oscilloscopes and probes
Oscilloscopes and probes play a vital role for engineers designing and testing power electronics. Delivering electrical power to analog and digital circuits and systems is more than just DC measurements. That’s because nearly all power-converter circuits use switching techniques to maximize efficiency. Silicon carbide (SiC and gallium nitride (GaN) transistors, with their higher voltage and […]
Tryout: Uni-T UPO1202 200 MHz oscilloscope
You need not spend a ton of money to get a feature-packed oscilloscope, provided you don’t need high bandwidth. While the oscilloscope works well, the free software needs help. After seeing the Uni-Trend (Uni-T) UTG962E Function/Arbitrary Waveform Generator ($182), we at EE World bought one and, at the same time, ordered a UPO1202 200 MHz […]
Engineers use AI/ML to improve test
Engineers can use AI/ML to reduce test development time, analyze test data from manufacturing, automate visual inspection and calibration, and identify counterfeit components. Here’s how some do it. Testing takes too much time; just ask any engineering or production manager. Shortening test-development time can reduce time to market. Shortening production test time lowers manufacturing costs. […]
Tryout: Uni-T UTG962E Function/Arbitrary Waveform Generator
This waveform generator is small enough to fit on any bench and packs many useful features so long as you operate it from the physical or virtual front panel. The software, however, needs work. Walking the exhibit floor at IMS 2024, I passed by the Uni-Trend (Uni-T) booth where the UTG962E Function/Arbitrary Waveform Generator caught […]
IMS 2024 roundup: test equipment
Washington, DC — The 2024 International Microwave Symposium took place here in June at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. As always, RF/microwave/mmWave test equipment was all over the exhibit hall. Frequency-domain test equipment — spectrum analyzers, vector network analyzers, power meters, and signal generators — were, of course, dominant. Other equipment, such as oscilloscopes […]
OFC 2024: Test equipment
Before those 800G links can operate, they need testing. San Diego — The 2024 Optical Fiber Communications Conference (OFC) took place here from March 25 to 28. While companies highlighting their optical transceiver modules, semiconductors, and network equipment all touted how they support AI and data centers, none of that happens without test equipment. Optical […]
APEC 2024: Test equipment
Test equipment is everywhere. Every trade show has it regardless of the focus. Power is no exception. At APEC 2024, EE World visited several booths displaying test equipment: meters, oscilloscopes, source-measure units (SMUs), bench power supplies, and electronic loads. The photos and videos below highlight what we saw, presented in alphabetical order by company. In […]
