Electrical Functional Test Station - National Instruments · o Meet test coverage requirements . o Maintain for the lifetime of the product in market o Operate within cycle -time

Page 1 | ni.com/automatedtest | Electrical Functional Test Station

CONTENTS

1. Test Architecture and requirements

2. NI Test platform Benefits

3. Architecture of NI Tools

4. Electrical Instrumentation Overview

5. Local Software Overview

6. Server/Cloud Software Overview

7. Test Infrastructure Overview

8. Services Overview

9. Featured Alliance Partners

Increasingly the traditional pressures on test teams of maximum coverage with minimum cycle time, are being joined by a raised expectation of development schedule, station longevity, regulatory compliance and remote systems/data management. The NI Test Platform is widely adopted by teams across the world looking to execute a test strategy that balances these varied pressures to support their business

SOLUTION BROCHURE

Electrical Functional Test Station Production Test Solutions for PCBA and Electronic Devices

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Test Station Architecture and Requirements

A functional test station is an integrated set of hardware and software that measures, analyzes and publishes data confirming if a product or component has been manufactured in adherence to predefined specifications.

Test Stations are complex applications containing many elements. These elements are architected in four groups, hardware infrastructure, hardware instrumentation, local software and server/cloud software. The test steps and instrumentation types required for each test station are unique while much of the other architectural elements can be observed in most test station types.

Test Station Necessities:

o Meet test coverage requirements.

o Maintain for the lifetime of the product in market

o Operate within cycle-time requirement

o Develop in time to meet production schedule

o Certify and document to meet regulatory standards

o Deliver test data in accessible format to all departments who request it

o Physically and operationally fit into existing manufacturing processes

o Purchase within assigned test budget

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Customize to Deliver the Results You’re Looking For The NI Test Platform is optimized for production test. No matter the pressures on you and your test program, the breadth of hardware, software and services in the NI Test Platform mean that you can always customize it to meet your specific needs.

• Product Quality: Industry leading accuracy, repeatability and reliability ensures your test will never be compromised and nor will the trust in your product.

• Product Complexity: The widest breadth of instrumentation in the industry supports measurements from voltage, current and digital signals to audio, RF and visual inspection both ensures complete test coverage.

• Station Longevity: Modular instrumentation manufactured and documented with lifecycle management in mind along with robust service program keeps production lines running longer with less reengineering work and less recertification.

• Production Volume: Built-in automatic test parallelism and FPGA processing that facilitates multi-up test architectures reduces cycle time and enables increased throughput on your line.

• Development Schedule: Software tools design specifically for test can save more than 50% of your development time* reducing the risk of missing tight schedule deadlines.

Systems management software ensures fast and error free software deployment, minimizing delays in large or remote updates.

• Regulatory Compliance: Complete documentation, experienced system integration partners, and tools designed for long term deployment ease regulatory certification and recertification processes.

• Data Insight: Out-of-the-box enterprise data management software collects, analyzes and reports on test data and station health, delivering greater insights into throughput, yield, station or component utilization and overall operational efficiency.

*see quote from Sub Zero on page 5

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Support Your Business Initiatives Through Test The NI Test Platform is optimized for production test. NI is committed to reach beyond a vendor/client relationship and support you delivering the value your business requires. Most large organizations have corporate lead initiatives designed to drive efficiency or differentiate through new technology or process. By aligning test strategy to these initiatives best-in-class test directors ensure visibility and success of both their department and the overall business.

• Standardization: NI’s modular hardware and software is ideal for use in standard platform development as components can be easily reused and expanded with minimal redesign, for a wide range functionality.

• Digital Transformation: Leveraging the IoT for test is not a futuristic idea; it can be done today using system management tools to deliver improved test coverage insight and significant utilization improvements. The NI approach allows businesses to focus on the areas of greatest value without having to make an all-or-nothing investment decision.

• Internal Proficiency: The combination of a single NI software tool chain that can be applied to multiple engineering disciplines, and a thriving global community of developers encourages test proficiency both at the individual and team level.

• Outsourcing ROI: The combination of consultation, support and full integration services, ensure that an inhouse vs outsource balance can always be reached, without putting deadlines or build quality at risk.

• Operational Expense: Industry-renowned reliability, production optimized software for test and data management, and comprehensive services and support ensure minimized downtime, real-time insight into operation, and cost-effective sustaining strategies.

• Capital Expense: Scalable, futureproof architectures, multi-up test capability and high channel count instrumentation maximize return on capital investments and protect against large unexpected costs.

Best-in-class production test teams don’t just build test stations; they execute against a test strategy that actively supports their business. With our industry-leading systems and services, NI powers the world’s most effective test organizations.

Kyle Voosen, Director, Electronics Production Test, National Instruments

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Architecture of NI Tools for Electrical Functional Test

The NI Test Platform includes a complete set of products including modular hardware, development software, and management applications to help you develop and operate functional test stations. NI and its global network of integration partners offer technical services to ensure customer success in designing, developing, and sustaining test stations.

• Instrumentation: PXI instrumentation ensures complete and accurate test coverage, with a modular architecture mounted in ultra-reliable PXI chassis

• Local Software: TestStand and LabVIEW software provide rapid development of complex test steps and sequences.

• Server/Cloud software (Enterprise): SystemLink software, eliminates manual tasks for software deployment and elevates reports and test data trends, driving operational efficiency.

• Infrastructure: PXI systems conserve floorspace due to their small, light form factor. Order the completed rack preassembled and installed using NI ATE Core Configurations

• Services and Support: Integration partners, hardware services, proficiency programs, and more ensure both your short- and long-term success

“We have developed a standard hardware platform based on NI’s offerings that allows us to rapidly deploy new equipment. We do the same with LabVIEW code

which allows us to deploy a system probably 50% quicker than in the past”

Dave Gilmore, Project Engineering Manager, Sub Zero Group Inc.

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Electrical Instrumentation From precise low voltage measurements to custom digital protocols and battery simulation, PXI instruments are in operation across tens of thousands of manufacturing lines worldwide. Chosen for its complete and accurate test coverage, with a flexible modular architecture, instruments are controlled by a PC either remotely or mounted alongside the modules in an ultra-reliable PXI chassis. The chassis also provides timing, triggering and synchronization across a high throughput backplane. Larger format instruments can be rack mounted alongside the PXI chassis.

PXI Platform Design PXI is a rugged PC-based platform that combines PCI electrical-bus features with the modular packaging of CompactPCI and then adds specialized synchronization buses and key software features. NI is the market leader for PXI test and measurement providing unrivaled breadth of instrumentation. The NI PXI platform uniquely fast-tracks development with seamless integration with NI test software as well as open compatibility with third-party hardware and software. PXI is an open industry standard governed by the PXI Systems Alliance (PXISA) a group of more than 70 global test companies. Instrumentation available includes:

• Analog and digital I/O

• Digital Multimeter

• Oscilloscope / Digitizer

• Waveform Generator

• Switch & Timing/Sync

• Source Measure Unit (SMU)

• Programmable DC Power Supply

• Electronic Load

• Instrument Control & Synchronization

“PXI chassis are a staple of our test systems as is LabVIEW”

Anthony Lambert, Engineer, Abbott Laboratories

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PXI Instrumentation NI offers more than 600 different PXI modules ranging from DC to mmWave. Because PXI is an open industry standard, nearly 1,500 products are available from more than 70 different instrument vendors. With standard processing and control functions designated to a controller, PXI instruments need to contain only the actual instrumentation circuitry, which provides effective performance in a small footprint. Combined with a chassis and controller, PXI systems feature high-throughput data movement using PCI Express bus interfaces and sub-nanosecond synchronization with integrated timing and triggering.

Oscilloscopes Sample at speeds up to 12.5 GS/s with 5 GHz of analog bandwidth, featuring numerous triggering modes and deep onboard memory

Digital Instruments Perform characterization and production test of semiconductor devices with timing sets and per channel pin parametric measurement unit (PPMU)

Frequency Counters Perform counter timer tasks such as event counting and encoder position, period, pulse, and frequency measurements

Power Supplies & Loads Supply programmable DC power, with some modules including isolated channels, output disconnect functionality, and remote sense

Switches (Matrix & MUX) Feature a variety of relay types and row/column configurations to simplify wiring in automated test systems

GPIB, Serial, & Ethernet Integrate non-PXI instruments into a PXI system through various instrument control interfaces

Digital Multimeters Perform voltage (up to 1000 V), current (up to 3A), resistance, inductance, capacitance, and frequency/period measurements, as well as diode tests

Waveform Generators Generate standard functions including sine, square, triangle, and ramp as well as user-defined, arbitrary waveforms

Source Measure Units Combine high-precision source and measure capability with high channel density, deterministic hardware sequencing, and SourceAdapt transient optimization

FlexRIO Custom Instruments & Processing Provide high-performance I/O and powerful FPGAs for applications that require more than standard instruments can offer

Vector Signal Transceivers Combine a vector signal generator and vector signal analyzer with FPGA-based, real-time signal processing and control

Data Acquisition Modules Provide a mix of analog I/O, digital I/O, counter/timer, and trigger functionality for measuring electrical or physical phenomena

©2019 National Instruments. All rights reserved. LabVIEW, National Instruments, NI, NI TestStand, and ni.com are trademarks of National Instruments. Other product and company names listed are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies. The contents of this Site could contain technical inaccuracies, typographical errors or out-of-date information. Information may be updated or changed at any time, without notice. Visit ni.com/manuals for the latest information. 12 July 2019 Page 8 | ni.com | Aerospace and Defense Electronics Manufacturing Test

Programmable Power Supply Devices Built for automated test rack-mount power supplies provide programmable DC power in either full or 1/6 rack-width, rack-mount form factors. The RMX-412x models offer up to 1,500 W of power in a 1U, full-rack form factor with flexible voltage and current limits ranging up to 650 VDC or 150 A, making them ideal for test systems that require large amounts of power with a broad range of voltage and current values. For applications requiring more than the specified voltage or current limits, you can combine up to two devices in series for higher voltage and up to four devices in parallel for higher current. The RMX-410x models can source hundreds of watts in a compact 2U, 1/6 rack-width design that makes them ideal for test systems that need multiple power rails. Additionally, both series offer buttons and knobs for interactive use, as well as USB, LAN, RS232 and analog control options for remote or automated use.

Electronic Load Devices Built for Automated Test and Measurement Electronic Load Devices can sink power at various current and voltage levels for power supply design, quality inspection, and functional tests. Their modular design and several operating modes allow them to simulate the real load that a power source sees in its actual application. They also feature buttons and knobs for interactive use as well as USB or RS232 interface options for automated use. You can connect multiple loads in parallel to increase your system’s overall power capacity.

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Instrumentation Hardware Services

Development and deployment of a test station is only half the story, best practice dictates that the sustaining and maintenance of the station should always be a well-considered concern right from day 1.

• Budget Control: Ensure predictability of operational costs and avoid unforeseen maintenance expenses

• Minimize Downtime: Get your systems back up and running within days, hours, or minutes with sparing programs, advance replacement services and repair contracts.

• Manage Life Cycle Changes: Manage technology refreshes and product obsolesce with roadmap consulting and life cycle services programs from 1 to 20 years.

• Simplify Logistics: Simplify the logistics and overhead of maintaining your hardware with support from NI.

• Maintain Standards: ISO 9001 tracible calibration and ISO/IEC 17025 accredited calibration services delivered onsite and through expedited shipping provide confidence and convenience.

• Speed Deployment: Get up-and-running with custom installation that include app software, generation of custom documentation, individual logo/labeling, system recovery images.

• Troubleshoot Quickly: Minimize development delays by consulting with experienced applications engineers, based in more than 40 countries to meet your local needs in your local language.

“In the 25+ years I've been dealing with NI, I've always found their personnel to be uniformly bright, enthusiastic, and genuinely concerned with helping their customers

succeed.”

Cary Long, Software Engineer

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Local Test Station Software The majority of test project man-hours are spent on software development, therefore choices made in software tools and architecture have significant impact on deployment schedules. Adopting a standard software approach across a team or organization increases both efficiency and proficiency lowering the risk of missed deadlines and improving test quality and reliability.

National Instruments is the global leader in test software, used by tens of thousands of engineers worldwide for its rapid development environment, open architecture and throughput enhancing features such as automatic parallel test step execution. National Instruments test software is most complete engineering toolchain on the market consisting of TestStand, LabVIEW, SystemLink, InstrumentStudio and more.

NI Test Software is open and compatible with most other development languages including C, C#, Python and more. This ensures teams can reuse existing IP within test steps and sequences without sacrificing the development benefits of NI software platform.

“The NI platform (especially LabVIEW and TestStand) has greatly increased our productivity and is a department standard. It probably saves us at least 40 hours on

each project.”

Makenna Shaske, Test Development Engineer, Benchmark Electronics

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LabVIEW

LabVIEW offers a graphical programming approach that helps you visualize every aspect of your application, including hardware configuration, measurement data, and debugging. This visualization makes it simple to integrate measurement hardware from any vendor, represent complex logic on the diagram, develop data analysis algorithms, and design custom engineering user interfaces. Key Benefits:

• Reduce system setup with access to thousands of instrument drivers, example programs, and documentation to connect to virtually any instrument

• Use hundreds of instrument-specific example code modules and included measurement libraries to reduce development time

• Reuse existing code libraries from languages like C/C++/C#, .NET, Python, and MATLAB

• Quickly create professional user interfaces to visualize test outcomes

• Build proficiency with extensive online and in-person training options for both new users and certified architects in NI tools.

“Our team uses a common hardware platform across testing of numerous products. Reusability of common hardware configurations and utilization of common LabVIEW

code simplifies development of new test systems”

Brian Teschendorf, Software Engineer, Boston Scientific Corporation

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TestStand

TestStand is ready-to-run test management software that is designed to help you quickly develop and execute TPS software. You can extend the functionality of your TPS by developing test sequences in TestStand that integrate code modules written in a variety of programming languages including G in LabVIEW, C/C++, .NET, and Python. TestStand also provides extensible plug-ins for reporting, database logging, and connectivity to other enterprise systems. You can deploy test systems to production with easy-to-use operator interfaces.

Key Benefits:

• Customize test sequences to meet every requirement

• Automate saving and reporting test data

• Increase test throughput with parallel testing

• Efficiently replicate and deploy test systems

• Troubleshoot test systems with integrated debugging tools

• Customize user interfaces to meet testing needs

“TestStand has helped to decrease the time spent testing product and gets it to the market faster”

Jared Smith, Test Engineer, Schneider Electric

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InstrumentStudio Software for Interactive Measurements

InstrumentStudio helps you to unify your display, export instrument configurations to code, and monitor and debug your automated test system. You can view data on unified displays with large, high-resolution monitors, and then capture multi-instrument screenshots and measurement results. Save project-level configurations for easier test repeatability with specific devices under test, or export instrument configurations to programming environments to simplify your code and guarantee measurement correlation. You can also use InstrumentStudio in parallel with your code to monitor and debug running test applications. InstrumentStudio is free software included with NI-SCOPE, NI-FGEN, NI-DMM, and NIDCPower driver downloads 18.1 and later.

Key Benefits:

• Integrate your instruments into a single view

• Capture multi-instrument screenshots, measurement results, parameter configurations and UI layouts for broader insight and instant repeatability

• Export instrument configurations to code

• Guarantee correlation by replicating instrument configurations using a single API function call

• Monitor the state of your instruments while they are running, or take control of them interactively for debugging

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Switch Executive Application Software

While the NI-SWITCH driver provides all the low-level functionality required to program switch actions, Switch Executive is application software for intelligent switch management and routing that accelerates development and simplifies maintenance of complex switch systems. The point-and-click graphical configuration and automatic routing capabilities make it easy to design your switch system. Using intuitive channel aliases and route names keeps your system documented for future modifications. Save time and increase test code reuse by integrating your system with TestStand, LabVIEW, LabWindows™ /CVI, and Measurement Studio.

Key Benefits:

• Graphically configure routes and route groups

• Develop reusable switching code and integrate it into TestStand or LabVIEW

• Automatically route signals between switch endpoints

• Scale switch configuration using Microsoft Excel

• Maintain switch configuration using route validation, reporting and debugging features

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Instrument-Specific Drivers and APIs

NI measurement driver software includes best-in-class APIs that works with a variety of development options such as LabVIEW, C, C#, Python, and others. To ensure long-term interoperability of our instruments, the driver APIs are the same API used for all past and current instruments. The driver software also provides access to help files, documentation, and dozens of ready-to-run shipping examples you can use as a starting point for your application.

Figure 24. LabVIEW API for NI-SCOPE.

// DAQmx analog voltage channel and timing parameters DAQmxErrChk (DAQmxCreateTask("", &taskHandle)); DAQmxErrChk(DAQmxCreateAIVoltageChan(taskHandle, "Dev1/ai0", "", DAQmx_Val_Cfg_Default, -10.0, 10.0, DAQmx_Val_Volts, NULL)); DAQmxErrChk(DAQmxCfgSampClkTiming(taskHandle, "", 10000.0, DAQmx_Val_Rising, DAQmx_Val_FiniteSamps, 1000)); // DAQmx Start Code DAQmxErrChk(DAQmxStartTask(taskHandle)); // DAQmx Read Code DAQmxErrChk(DAQmxReadAnalogF64(taskHandle, 1000, 10.0, DAQmx_Val_GroupByChannel, data, 1000, &read, NULL)); // Stop and clear task

Figure 25. C API for NI-DAQmx.

Figure 26. code example of NI-SCOPE capture in python.

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Server/Cloud Software (Enterprise) The expectation of visibility into test data is growing. Best in class companies realize that scrutiny of their functional test data provides real-time insight into the causes of changes in manufacturing yield, throughput, line health and product quality.

Data Insights Team Requesting Data Data usage need Enterprise Data Requirement Company Leadership Business Operations Insight

Product Returns Team Traceability of Faults

Product R&D Team Product design improvement

Test Development team Tester improvement and optimization

Manufacturing Floor Operations Team Utilization and line balancing operations

Basic Data Requirement Local Test Operator Test Station Status

Home-grown solutions for test data management are prevalent in the industry. Effective development and maintenance of these requires expertise in domains misaligned to test engineering workflows such as database connectivity, web services, IT systems, security, visualization and more. Work in these areas often does not contribute to key metrics by which test organizations are measured and so detracts from the exterior view of the team’s success. For these reasons increasingly, test organizations are moving towards a COTS solution for systems and data management that allows their test engineers to devote time towards the areas that add most business value. NI SystemLink is a leading solution that addresses this issue as well as expands the capabilities of systems and data management tools far beyond what most engineering teams previously experienced. SystemLink integrates seamlessly with NI TestStand software and PXI hardware but offers an open architecture that allows it to manage a wide range of third-party data and instruments.

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SystemLink

SystemLink eliminates the manual tasks related to keeping test systems current and healthy. From automating software updates to monitoring system health, SystemLink delivers key information that improves situational awareness and test readiness. Leveraging an automation and connectivity framework, SystemLink aggregates test and measurement data from all test systems into a centralized data repository. Users have ready access to asset utilization, calibration forecasts as well as test result history, trends, and production metrics data to make proactive decisions on capital expense, maintenance events, and test or product modifications.

SystemLink is comprised of four modules—Software Configuration, Asset, Test, and TDM Data Finder. These modules provide the application specific capabilities that leverage the SystemLink Server for communication, transmission, and movement of data as well as services for managing software packages, alarms and notifications, and dashboards for NI and non-NI instruments.

Key Benefits:

• Centrally manage distribution software

• Optimize your software deployment process

• Perform remote device configuration and diagnostics

• Manage TPS performance health with alarms management, notifications, and calibration reporting

• Automatically Prepare your data from multiple sources for queries and analysis

• Quickly access and search measurement data across TPSs

• Intelligently analyze files and generate reports automatically

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Infrastructure Elements for Functional Test The infrastructure around a test station may not directly recognized in the test coverage specification but it plays a vital part I the ongoing operation of the test station. Careful consideration of the quality, practicality and functionality of test infrastructure components is the only way to ensure long-term success of a test station. NI provides many of the key infrastructure elements and partners with an ecosystem of trusted vendors to make recommendations on how to complete a fully operational, deployed system.

Instrument Chassis The PXI chassis is the backbone of a PXI system and compares to the mechanical enclosure and motherboard of a desktop PC. It provides power, cooling, and a communication bus to the system, and supports multiple instrumentation modules within the same enclosure. PXI uses commercial PC-based PCI and PCI Express bus technology while combining rugged CompactPCI modular packaging, as well as key timing and synchronization features. Chassis range in size from four to 18 slots to fit the needs of any application, whether its intentions are to be a portable, a benchtop, a rack-mount, or an embedded system. Controller PXI embedded controllers eliminate the need for an external PC and provide a high-performance, yet compact in-chassis embedded computer. These embedded controllers have extended temperature, shock, and vibration specifications and have the latest integrated CPUs, hard drive, memory, Ethernet, video, serial, USB, and other peripherals. The controller comes pre-configured with LabVIEW Real-Time or Microsoft Windows and all the device drivers pre-installed. NI’s embedded controllers also have managed life cycles and offer vendor support to ensure test system longevity and compatibility with the PXI ecosystem. Link to IPC Connects the PXI chassis to an external controller such as a rack mounted industrial PC through a software transparent link that requires no additional programming. Allows the creation of synchronized, data-connected, multi chassis PXI systems with up to 13.7 GB/s of sustained data throughput. Optimized for cost optimized solutions.

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Mechanical, Power and Safety Infrastructure

Not all racks are created equally, accessibility, durability, mobility and reliability can all be compromised by rack vendors looking to reduce cost. NI’s standardized mechanical, power, and safety infrastructure for deployment of rack-based automated test systems provides trustable high-quality components in a flexible system that is easy to maintain.

Streamline the procurement of automated test systems by keeping costs and timelines in control with expedited delivery of preassembled, configured systems from a single vendor. Reduce the time and cost of multiple purchase orders (POs) by acquiring a full tester from one vendor, and having it shipped directly to your site anywhere in the world (IEC 61010-01 compliant). Each system is delivered with reusable packaging materials ideal for future redeployment.

Benefit from a single warranty covering your system, repair and replace parts from a single source and trust in NI using a single service program to sustain for your entire system. Configured systems from NI are designed to save time and money from operational budgets while accelerating system deployments.

By standardizing on NI’s ATE Core Configs, we were able to reduce the time it takes to build new testers by 40%

Chris Becher, Engineering Manager, Alstom Signaling

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Mass Interconnect

Product lifecycles are decreasing with the frequent adoption of new features and options. To ensure return on the investment from new test stations, engineers are deploying modular test systems able to customize to meet the coverage needs of multiple DUTs and SKUs. This modular best practice includes both the instrumentation and the test interface. Interfaces must:

• Allow rapid system changeover through a standardized approach

• Not compromise test coverage by supporting a full range of signals from the DUT

• Minimize downtime and reduce maintenance with reliable long-term operation

Virginia Panel Corporation (VPC)

For high quality connectivity solutions NI partners with Virginia Panel Corporation.

Virginia Panel Corporation (VPC) has provided reliable Mass InterConnect solutions through the dedication of its employees for almost 60 years. VPC designs, manufactures and markets Interface Connector products for commercial, consumer electronic, medical, telecommunications, aerospace, and automotive applications.

Learn more at

[email protected]

Modular product family with standard wire harnesses for PXI instruments

Support for any signal, including high speed serial (USB, GigE)

High cycle life: 10,000-200,000+

Standardized test interface, allowing rapid system changeover

High density interface that achieves 100% pinout accuracy

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Fixture Functional test typically applies full operational power to a loaded printed circuit board in order to determine if the PCBA performs functions as designed. Most functional test stations require custom-built test equipment and custom test fixturing.

The architecture of your fixture is dependent on the volume of products and the frequency at which you change the model of DUT being tested. The capital expenditure on fixtures is proportional to the number of SKUs being tested rather than the number of testers but as connectivity in the fixture is a leading cause of false failures best practice suggests this is not a test system element to compromise quality is possible. Although many high-volume lines are moving to in-line architectures due to labor cost, manual or pneumatic architectures are still the most common. If volumes are low personalized drop-in plates can be used within the fixture to minimize capital expense over time.

Programming should also be integrated into the fixture as the errors occurred by longer cables or multiple connections are common.

NI provides a list of accredited fixture vendors across the world, consulting with an experienced fixture manufacturer is strongly advised to ensure for mechanically durable and ergonomic functionality.

Choose the right alliance partner to meet your fixturing needs at ni.com/alliance Learn about our featured partners for electrical functional test on page 24-25

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Services & Support Change initiatives are common within test teams. Whether building a new test strategy, driving a technology refresh, or extending the lifecycle of an existing project, the risk introduced to product schedules and budgets is often high. Managing this risk is often a tricky balance between meticulous planning and agile design choices.

Leveraging consultation, educational resources and ongoing support programs can be the difference between a culture of missed deadlines and budgetary strain, and a culture of on-time, on-target delivery. NI consultation, integration, and education services offer guidance and industry expertise to help build and execute a practical plan to achieve your business and operational outcomes.

Methodology Consulting Services With over 40 years’ experience in test, NI is an expert in the processes and strategies related to test. NI provides a framework to help evaluate the effect of people, process, and technology to recommend the appropriate test strategy customized to your business. Work with NI to solidify a business case that articulates your future state and expected return-on-investment (ROI) of your program to secure the funding you need.

Planning and project management consulting helps build a project execution plan that keeps teams on track to hit major development milestones. Work together with NI to establish priorities, identify the right resources, and make trade-offs to optimize cost without putting projects at risk.

Integration Engineering Services With global solution centers and NI engineers in over 40 countries supported by over 900 alliance partners companies, NI delivers design and development assistance in every region and industry. NI engineers help you mitigate risk, develop faster, and reduce costs through project management, architecture development, and system documentation to deliver an integrated solution.

Education Services Test teams new to NI software and seasoned veterans of the platform alike benefit from investing in their education through learning resources designed for personal and team proficiency. NI provides a comprehensive Customer Education program designed to increase productivity, reduce development time, and improve your team’s ability to engineer robust, maintainable applications with NI products. Tailor the experience to fit any schedule with online, in person, and flexible programs.

Engineers who have adopted NI education services save time in development and maintenance and learn faster.

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Alliance Partner Network Best-in-class test engineering teams realize there is seldom a simple question of in-house development vs outsourced development, but rather a more complex decision to be made around how to balance development teams to optimize for deployment schedule, bandwidth, domain specific expertise, proficiency development, available budget and more.

NI Alliance partners are uniquely positioned to support your business with the service that it requires including strategic design, system integration, specialist tools, software IP and ongoing support. More than 1,000 NI Alliance Partners, each certified and vouched for by NI are available globally to consult on projects and provide complete solutions based on NI’s productive software and modular hardware.

Partnering in your success

• Integrators: Partner integration companies that are certified specialists in production test help reduce development time and cost by providing expertise and complete solutions.

• Consultants: Hourly consultants help mitigate risk and shorten design cycles through software architecture design, code review, and individual or team training

• Tools and Apps: Build specialist IP into your solution to add functionality or reduce development time. The LabVIEW Tools network offers hundreds of add-ons, toolkits, and reference applications compatible with NI and industry platforms.

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Featured Alliance Partner: Circuit Check Circuit Check is a leading provider of automated test systems and interfacing solutions (test fixtures & ITA’s) for complex electronic products for the industrial, medical, automotive, military/aerospace, and computer networking industries. Circuit Check specializes in rapid design and deployment of complex systems, including, automation, vision, and user interface testing. Design staff includes electrical, software, mechanical engineers. Each project has a dedicated project manager to ensure the successful completion of the test system. Systems are supported by staff throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Malaysia, and China.

- Reduce risk to project delivery with proven

record in mission critical projects with turnkey solutions built to the highest quality and reliability

- Augment the experience and knowledge, not just bandwidth of inhouse design teams to deliver successful, well thought out solutions that work first time.

- Reduce the cost of test by optimizing test measurement design through design for testability (DFT) consulting, requirements specification development and build best practices.

- Scale efficiently when deploying large numbers of stations distributed across multiple sites.

- Support throughout test station life-cycle. Design, development, deployment, start-up and sustaining.

Circuit check stands out as a system integrator by providing a personal consultative service to every test project big or small. This service includes

- Dedicated project managers to ensure the successful completion of the test system. One point of contact through the entire project.

- Full test system documentation package (Documentation includes: bill of material, system overview, hardware setup, operator manual electrical schematic, test results, etc.)

- Review and update customer documentation (Documentation includes: customer mechanical and electrical design documents for testability

Learn more at

www.circuitcheck.com Call +1 763.694.4100

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Featured Alliance Partner: Booster Booster is a professional and dedicated manufacturing test development and test automation solutions provider based in China with the worldwide service and support network.

- Scale to any size project with more than 110+ test

development and design engineer to cover most of the product catalogue test development and design knowledge base and required capabilities.

- Keep costs and lead-times to a minimum with in-house high quality fixture design and fabrication, including expertise in RF and Audio/Acoustic chambers.

- Complete support for entire test line from DFT and early stage test strategy consultation, through development to sustaining.

- Worldwide service and support to provide customer timely support.

Booster was chosen as one of only three WW Certified Test Development Systems Integrators for General Electric (GE) due to their quality of service and international presence.

Learn more at

http://www.boostertech.cn/m/en/ Email: [email protected] Sales Email: [email protected] Mobile: +86 18688150629

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Featured Alliance Partner: Averna

Averna is a premier test solutions provider for technology innovators worldwide. As an NI Platinum Alliance Partner, Averna’s test expertise spreads from consumer electronics, telecom and life-sciences to aerospace, defense and automotive.

With over 20 years in business Averna’s has a proven record in helping clients accelerate product development, reduce manufacturing costs, achieve uncompromising test coverage, and solving supply-chain issues.

• Undertake projects of any size with the support of over 240 globally located engineers and software experts – including over 140 NI-certified architects, developers and instructors

• Build with confidence leveraging Averna’s expertise of over 6000 successful projects completed.

• Solve complex problems with accredited specialty product support for NI tools including RF/Wireless, SystemLink

• Meet your production volume requirements with mechanical design that scales from simple manual fixtures, to fully automated inline installations.

Learn more at

https://insight.averna.com/request-for-information-averna