Test system development tools

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Agilent Open, a program that simplifies test-system setup and integration by offering instruments based on open industry standards, has been introduced by Agilent Technologies.

It offers a wide selection of products and services designed to minimise set-up time, reduce costs and speed new product development.

The program has three key components: system-ready instruments, PC-standard I/O and open software.

System-ready instruments come with I/O (such as LAN and USB) and software that automatically configures, interfaces and discovers other instruments regardless of the manufacturer, and verifies instrument connections, reducing test set-up time to minutes; standard PC I/O interfaces such as LAN, USB and GPIB (general-purpose interface bus - the dominant 8 bit parallel I/O connection for test equipment and test systems) and a host of I/O converters simplify and accelerate the process of connecting test equipment; open software programming gives engineers the flexibility to develop test systems in programming languages they already know.

The package offers: basic instruments such as switches, function generators, modular power supplies and digital multimeters meet a variety of test needs, providing the flexibility to customise systems with mix-and-match modularity; signal generators, spectrum analysers, power meters and power sensors provide measurement versatility through extended test ranges and performance levels; software tools, including VEE Pro, a graphical program that replaces tedious code, and Toolkit 2.0, which extends Visual Studio with everything needed to develop programs, connect to instruments, sequence tests and generate graphs and tabular results; I/O products and software, such as Agilent's I/O Library Suite 14.0, automatically recognise each instrument on the network, regardless of manufacturer.