PCI Express, officially abbreviated as PCIe or PCI-e, is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard, designed to replace the older PCI, PCI-X and AGP bus standards. It is the common motherboard interface for personal computers' graphics cards, sound cards, hard disk drive host adapters, SSDs, Wi-Fi and Ethernet hardware connections. PCIe has numerous improvements over the older standards, including higher maximum system bus throughput, lower I/O pin count and smaller physical footprint, better performance scaling for bus devices, a more detailed error detection and reporting mechanism, and native hot-swap functionality. More recent revisions of the PCIe standard provide hardware support for I/O virtualization.
IEEE 488 is a short-range digital communications 8-bit parallel multi-master interface bus specification developed by Hewlett-Packard as HP-IB. It subsequently became the subject of several standards, and is generically known as GPIB.
Dolphin Interconnect Solutions is a privately held manufacturer of high-speed data communication systems headquartered in Oslo, Norway and Woodsville, New Hampshire, USA.
Electronic test equipment is used to create signals and capture responses from electronic devices under test (DUTs). In this way, the proper operation of the DUT can be proven or faults in the device can be traced. Use of electronic test equipment is essential to any serious work on electronics systems.
LAN eXtensions for Instrumentation (LXI) is a standard developed by the LXI Consortium, a consortium that maintains the LXI specification and promotes the LXI Standard. The LXI standard defines the communication protocols for instrumentation and data acquisition systems using Ethernet. Ethernet is a ubiquitous communication standard providing a versatile interface, the LXI standard describes how to use the Ethernet standards for test and measurement applications in a way that promotes simple interoperability between instruments. The LXI Consortium ensures LXI compliant instrumentation developed by various vendors works together with no communication or setup issues. The LXI Consortium ensures that the LXI standard complements other test and measurement control systems, such as GPIB and PXI systems.
National Instruments Corporation, doing business as NI, is an American multinational company with international operation. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, it is a producer of automated test equipment and virtual instrumentation software. Common applications include data acquisition, instrument control and machine vision.
VME eXtensions for instrumentation bus refers to standards for automated test based upon VMEbus. VXI defines additional bus lines for timing and triggering as well as mechanical requirements and standard protocols for configuration, message-based communication, multi-chassis extension, and other features. In 2004, the 2eVME extension was added to the VXI bus specification, giving it a maximum data rate of 160 MB/s.
Automatic test equipment or automated test equipment (ATE) is any apparatus that performs tests on a device, known as the device under test (DUT), equipment under test (EUT) or unit under test (UUT), using automation to quickly perform measurements and evaluate the test results. An ATE can be a simple computer-controlled digital multimeter, or a complicated system containing dozens of complex test instruments capable of automatically testing and diagnosing faults in sophisticated electronic packaged parts or on wafer testing, including system on chips and integrated circuits.
Ansys, Inc. is an American multinational company with its headquarters based in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. It develops and markets CAE/multiphysics engineering simulation software for product design, testing and operation and offers its products and services to customers worldwide.
PCI eXtensions for Instrumentation (PXI) is one of several modular electronic instrumentation platforms in current use. These platforms are used as a basis for building electronic test equipment, automation systems, and modular laboratory instruments. PXI is based on industry-Industry-standard computer buses and permits flexibility in building equipment. Often modules are fitted with custom software to manage the system.
Open Platform Management Architecture (OPMA) is an open, royalty free standard for connecting a modular, platform hardware management subsystem to a computer motherboard. Platform hardware management generally refers to the remote monitoring of platform hardware variables such as fan speed, voltages, CPU and enclosure temperatures along with a wide range of other sensors. It also implies the ability to remotely control the power state of the platform and to reset the system back into an operational state should it "hang". A significant advantage of OPMA over previous generation management subsystem attachment methods is that OPMA does not consume a PCI socket. OPMA cards are also smaller and lower cost than their PCI predecessors.
The Apple Pippin is a defunct open multimedia technology platform, designed by Apple Computer, and marketed as PiPP!N. According to Apple, Pippin was directed at the home market as "an integral part of the consumer audiovisual, stereo, and television environment."
M-Modules are a mezzanine standard mainly used in industrial computers. Being mezzanines, they are always plugged on a carrier printed circuit board (PCB) that supports this format. The modules communicate with their carrier over a dedicated bus, and can have all kinds of special functions.
VTI Instruments Corporation sells precision instrumentation for electronic signal distribution, data acquisition and monitoring. The company's products are used to automate the functional testing of complex electronic systems as well as to monitor and record data that characterizes the physical integrity of aircraft, engines, and other large structures.
AdvancedTCA Extensions for Instrumentation and Test (AXIe) is a modular instrumentation standard created by Aeroflex, Keysight Technologies, and Test Evolution Corporation. (In October 2008, Aeroflex had purchased a 40% shareholding in Test Evolution.)
Mass interconnect systems act as the connector interface between test instruments and devices/units under test (D/UUT) and are most often used in defense, aerospace, automotive, manufacturing, and other applications. By mating a receiver on the tester side with an interchangeable test adapter (ITA) on the UUT, a mass interconnect enables the entire system to mate together at one time. Mass interconnect systems are available in multiple sizes and configurations to accommodate virtually any testing requirement.
Elma Electronic is a publicly traded Swiss electronics company founded in 1960 and based in Wetzikon, Switzerland. The company has 5 product divisions: Systems Platforms, Backplanes, Enclosures & Components, Rotary Switches, and Cabinet Enclosures. The largest segment is systems packaging serving the military, aerospace, homeland security, medical and industrial markets. The Elma Bustronic division develops backplanes, including VME320, which was the world's fastest VME backplane in 1997. Elma Bustronic also develops backplanes in OpenVPX, VMEbus, VME64X, CompactPCI, MicroTCA, and custom bus structures. Elma is an executive member of the PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group (PICMG), VME International Trade Association, and member of the OpenVPX Industry Working Standards Group.
Integrated Device Technology, Inc., is an American corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, that designs, manufactures, and markets low-power, high-performance mixed-signal semiconductor solutions for the advanced communications, computing, and consumer industries. The company markets its products primarily to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Founded in 1980, the company began as a provider of complementary metal-oxide semiconductors (CMOS) for the communications business segment and computing business segments. The company is focused on three major areas: communications infrastructure, high-performance computing, and advanced power management.
Bustec is a company that designs and manufactures instrumentation for high-performance data acquisition and instrument control. The company's products serve applications that include engine testing, automotive and missile testing, wind tunnel data acquisition and control, acoustics, vibration applications, aircraft component testing and more. Headquarters is located in Shannon, Co. Clare, Ireland.
SATA Express is a computer bus interface that supports both Serial ATA (SATA) and PCI Express (PCIe) storage devices, initially standardized in the SATA 3.2 specification. The SATA Express connector used on the host side is backward compatible with the standard SATA data connector, while it also provides two PCI Express lanes as a pure PCI Express connection to the storage device.
