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July 2008
You’re All Invited!
Paul Schreier
In the past few years, the LXI Consortium has
conducted a number of PlugFests around the world. And while two big
purposes have been to bring together members of the various
technical working groups and allow vendors to have their instruments
tested for compliance, parts of these meetings have been made open
to the general research and engineering communities so they could
learn about LXI.
Well, to be honest, attendance by outsiders
hasn’t been overwhelming. Part of the reason, I think, is because
potential users are confused by the term PlugFest. They assume that
the meeting is either closed to LXI members or they won’t get much
useful information in the way of applications material. In addition,
some may assume there is a fee to attend the gathering.
This is far from the truth. The report I wrote
for the February issue of LXI ConneXion about the recent
Munich PlugFest explains that any user or potential user of LXI
instruments can attend and gain an incredible amount of knowledge
about LXI in just a short time. After all, here you have all the LXI
experts gathered together, and they’re not only willing but are very
anxious to talk with you.
So, in an attempt to make it clear that
LXI-sponsored events are not only open to the public, but also will
have immediately useful information, the consortium is organizing an
LXI Day that runs in parallel to the PlugFest. The first one was
held at the end of May in Toronto, but these will be conducted every
few months so you won’t have to wait long for the next one.
I think setting up a formal LXI Day is a great
idea. It removes some of the confusion surrounding the PlugFests and
makes it more apparent that these sessions are open to everyone.
LXI is going to be an important component of
next-generation test systems. Any future-oriented test engineer, if
not already familiar with LXI, should take advantage of this
opportunity to learn about this impressive technology and the
standardization efforts behind it. Find out when and where the next
LXI Day will be held at
www.lxistandard.org/about/events/.
Paul Schreier, Editor
paul@pspr.biz
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April 2008
The Triple Convergence in Instrumentation
Paul Schreier
While catching up on some reading, I recently finished The World Is Flat by Thomas Friedman. In this discussion of the technological trends driving corporate structures, economics, and politics in the 21st century, he focuses on technologies accessible to all businesses and social groups. His thoughts seem particularly applicable to today’s LXI marketplace. Specifically, LXI instrument sales haven’t taken off like a rocket. But as Friedman discusses, several ingredients are necessary before that can happen.
He speaks about the triple convergence that has led to rapid technology acceptance in familiar areas. For the first convergence, he says all the core technologies and trends that enable momentous changes in the way we live and work “have been around…but they had to spread and take root and connect with one another to work their magic...”
The same holds true for LXI. Not the Ethernet, the Internet, nor Web pages are new anymore. We’ve been cross-triggering instruments for decades. But now, through LXI, all these things are coming together.
For the second convergence, he notes, “The big spurts in productivity come when a new technology, or a new platform of technologies, is combined with new ways of doing business, and this always takes time.” Again this statement is right on for LXI, which makes us look at instrument-system design in a new way. We just need to become familiar and comfortable with these new methods. Especially because test engineers are conservative, this will take time.
As for the third convergence, Friedman looks toward a global workforce, one where individuals worldwide have access to jobs due to outsourcing, offshoring, supply-chaining, and insourcing. He states, “Three billion people who have been locked out of the field suddenly found themselves liberated to plug and play with everyone else.”
Well, I don’t think we can expect three billion LXI users, but the principle is still valid. LXI will open up the use of complex instrument systems to a much wider range of scientists and engineers who will easily share data without limitations.
A final statement he makes seems very appropriate: “Once a standard takes hold, people start to focus on the quality of what they are doing as opposed to how they are doing it...once everyone could connect with everyone else, they got busy on the real value add, which was coming up with the most useful and nifty software applications to enhance collaboration, innovation, and creativity.”
This, indeed, is the heart of LXI. And if we can extrapolate Friedman’s theories to the instrumentation field, then LXI has a very bright future.
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February 2008
What a Difference a Chip Makes
Paul Schreier
In my report on the recent Munich PlugFest in this issue, you’ll see a mention of a new chip. We normally don’t give much coverage to silicon in this magazine; but in this case, I think it’s so worthy of your attention that I am highlighting it here once again.
Specifically, it’s the DP83640 from National Semiconductor, announced by that company as the industry’s first Ethernet transceiver with integrated hardware support for the IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol. This means that it has become relatively simple to incorporate Class B functionality into an instrument.
Previously, manufacturers implemented 1588 either entirely in software or gave it a hardware assist, generally with an FPGA that bypassed a couple of layers in the stack. Now, though, people can buy a PHY-layer device as they would have to do anyway, and 1588 capabilities are automatically there waiting to be exploited.
While Class C instruments offer a number of advantages such as LAN configuration, built-in web pages, and standardized drivers, Class B instruments are especially intriguing. With them, you can synchronize the activities of multiple instruments with nanosecond accuracy and do so over the existing LAN without any extra wiring. The potential of this capability is enormous, and I can’t wait to see what test-system integrators do with it.
For the moment, few Class B instruments are available. This was going to change anyway as manufacturers gain their first experiences with Class C instruments and move on to expand capabilities to Class B and Class A, which adds the wired trigger bus. But with this chip, the move to Class B should take place much faster.
I believe that Class B and Class A instruments will provide the functionality that starts the momentum in the direction of wide-scale adoption of LXI. And one little chip—along with several others like it that have been hinted at but not yet announced—will help make it possible even sooner than any of us had thought.
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September 2007
Getting Up To Speed
Paul Schreier
Pressing professional obligations and a simple lack of time have prompted Mike Dewey to step down as editor of
LXI ConneXion.
I think you’ll agree that he’s done a fantastic job and got the publication off to a great start. Our thanks and best wishes go out to him, and in his current job we’ll be seeing him at various LXI events.
As I take my place at the editor’s desk, it’s time to educate myself on LXI to a much greater degree. I’ve covered LXI peripherally in other articles, but to prepare me for this job, I’m now pouring
over specs and past issues of LXI ConneXion, a great treasure trove of information on LXI.
There’s only so much you can learn by reading, though, and I believe that some hands-on experience will help me get the depth of knowledge I need. I thought I’d start with something simple such as a basic, low-cost, general-purpose data acquisition
(DAQ) device, with the emphasis on low price. With its distributed nature, LXI is a great fit for this type of product.
There’s got to be something around, I thought. Well, I was wrong. I went to the LXI Consortium website only to discover there is no such product on the list of certified instruments. There are thermocouple boxes and DMMs but nothing that I would call a simple DAQ brick.
I’m somewhat surprised at this. First, LXI seems a perfect solution for remote data acquisition. There are a number of Ethernet-
based DAQ products out there, but nobody has adapted theirs for LXI. In addition, that would be a great starter product not just for me but I suspect for many other people who want to learn about this emerging technology.
I contacted two consortium members that I thought would be perfect candidates for an LXI DAQ brick: Data Translation and National Instruments. Both have extensive product lines of a similar nature. Both told me, though, that their only involvement
with LXI so far is to make sure their respective application development environments are LXI compliant.
Based on my inquiries, it looks like there’s a small market niche here. Perhaps some small company out there is looking for an idea. When such a product is ready, let me know so I can tell the rest of the LXI community about it. Meanwhile, I look forward to keeping you informed about all the latest developments in LXI in the months to come.
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April 2007
Supply and Demand
Mike Dewey
Over the past 18 months, the
availability of LXI instruments has grown to include a variety of
products supporting switching, RF generators/analyzers, digitizers,
sources, and power supplies—enough of a selection to allow users to
start deploying LXI into test applications. However, within the test
and measurement community, there are those asking how and when the
adoption rate or demand for LXI will accelerate. And although some
might argue that the availability of more instruments by more
vendors will help accelerate the adoption of LXI, simply increasing
supply will not necessarily result in large numbers of users.
The answer, I believe, is more complex than just "build it and they
will come." LAN-based instrumentation has been part of the test and
measurement landscape for more than five years.
So it would seem logical for users currently using LAN to migrate to
LXI if the instruments are available. Therein lies one issue:
Currently, some instrument manufacturers are reluctant to invest the
initial time and money to make an Ethernet instrument LXI compliant.
Until the market or their customers start to demand LXI features,
these manufacturers will not make the investment in product
enhancements vs. new products.
Another aspect of lagging demand lies with test engineers still
building and supporting the many systems that use GPIB. Test
engineers are not inclined to adopt a new technology if it requires
investing time to learn or involves risk, whether perceived or real.
For test engineers currently not using LAN-based instrumentation,
the lack of familiarity and comfort regarding networking could be a
barrier to adopting LXI. Unlike a GPIB device or a USB device,
connecting an instrument to a LAN can be viewed as complex, even if
a specification standardizes the process.
Building demand for LXI starts with educating suppliers and users.
Suppliers that currently offer LAN-based devices need to be educated
about the benefits of LXI for their customers as well as about how
they can easily migrate a LAN device to an LXI device. Similarly,
end users need to learn the basics of networking and how they can
easily and independently set up an LXI device within a network
without assistance from their IT group. Once these groups understand
the technology and benefits of LXI, the demand will follow.
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January 2007
LXI and Hybrid Systems
Mike Dewey
The LXI Consortium officially released
version 1.1 of the LXI specification in September 2006. Compared to
version 1.0, most of the updates are clarifications to the existing
specification although a section has been added that addresses the
area of hybrid systems.
Traditionally, hybrid systems consist of a heterogeneous collection
of control interfaces. Virtually every system today is made up of a
collection of various instrument control platforms such as PXI, VXI,
GPIB, USB, RS-232, or LAN.
The consortium has a slightly different viewpoint. Yes, hybrid
systems are made up of a combination of various control interfaces.
However, for LXI, the hybrid system is LAN centric, meaning all
devices regardless of their native interface are controlled by the
LXI environment.
The consortium felt strongly enough about integrating non-LXI
devices into a LAN-centric system that it created the Hybrid Systems
Working Group to define potential methods and implementations for
interfacing or LXIing instruments with other control
interfaces. The result of this working group is reflected in the
latest specification, which identifies several methods for
incorporating non-LXI devices into an LXI-centric system via the use
of bridges, adapters, or adapter tool kits.
Unlike other instrumentation standards groups that generally have
focused on specifying how you go about designing a compliant
instrument, the LXI Consortium decided to put effort into helping
end users integrate test systems with a variety of control buses.
And even though a LAN-centric test system is not likely to be the
case for quite some time, the fact that the consortium has proposed
methods to incorporate other standards is the right way to build
acceptance of the LXI standard.
The real point about hybrid systems as seen through the eyes of the
LXI Consortium is not so much how you adapt instruments to LXI but
rather the fact that they thought about the need to address hybrid
systems. Consortium members realize that hybrid systems and selling
LXI boxes go hand in hand, and addressing the application aspects is
more important than figuring out how to LXIize an instrument.
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October 2006
LXI—One Year Old and Growing
Mike Dewey
In September 2005, the LXI Consortium
released Version 1.0 of the LXI specification. Since that time, the
consortium has grown to include 50 members with vendors supplying
more than 140 products. Considering that the standard is only a year
old, the number of products available is impressive and quite broad.
Power supplies, switches, RF instrumentation, DMMs, function
generators, and thermocouple instrumentation are now offered in the
LXI format.
Not only is LXI growing by the number of products, but also by the
level of support and commitment provided by the consortium. During
the past year, the LXI technical committee established a process and
methodology for testing and certifying LXI products, helping to
ensure the ongoing success and interoperability of the standard for
all developers and users of LXI devices.
If you attended Autotestcon in Anaheim and visited the LXI booth,
you probably saw the consortium’s multivendor demo system. The
development of this demo required significant time and resources on
the part of many consortium members and was undertaken to help
educate new users as well as ensure the robustness of the standard.
Additionally, the consortium continues to work on Version 1.1 of the
LXI specification. Without question, the consortium and its members
are committed to making the LXI standard, suppliers, and users
successful.
As LXI enters its second year, you can expect to see users begin to
adopt LXI instrumentation. There already are some applications that
are deploying LXI for data acquisition as well as some focused
solutions involving synthetic instrumentation. However, we still are
in the early stages of adoption: Many of the more powerful features
associated with LXI Class A and B devices are yet to be discovered
by users.
The capability to leverage LAN-based communications in conjunction
with precision triggering/timing as part of the LAN control
interface opens up a broad range of solutions for distributed test
applications. And even if you are only interested in replacing your
GPIB interface, LXI Class C devices can offer you a lower cost and
more flexible solution. So when you start thinking about how you
might design your next-generation test system, it’s time to consider
using LXI devices with LAN-based connectivity, the successor to the
GPIB standard.
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July 2006
LXI: Finding Its Place
Mike Dewey
It has now been a year since I accepted
the position as editor of LXI ConneXion. At the time, the 1.0
LXI specification was in development, and there was a wide range of
ideas and opinions about how LXI might change the world of
instrumentation and automated test.
Well here we are, one year later down the development road, and
products are starting to enter the market. And with the release and
adoption of products comes a more tempered and realistic view about
the where, what, when, and how of LXI.
The LXI standard is not unlike any other new technology or standard.
Probably we all can recall some technology that was destined to
change the technical world only to have the excitement reside and be
replaced by reduced expectations.
This cycle of expectation and realization has been identified by
Gartner Research as the hype cycle. Essentially, the premise is that
all new technologies go through a hype cycle, which includes several
inflection points: a peak of inflated expectations, a trough of
disillusionment, a slope of enlightenment, and finally the plateau
of productivity.
For LXI, we still are in the first phase, a fact that has not
escaped the members of the LXI Consortium. So to help manage this
peak of expectation, the consortium has undertaken a program to
educate users about what LXI is and is not.
Essentially, the LXI Consortium is focused on communicating to the
test community the benefits of LXI and how LXI complements existing
technologies. By educating via technical articles, white papers, and
advertising, the consortium is ensuring that users are fully
informed about the benefits and capabilities of LXI systems and
components. By developing a uniform message that all LXI suppliers
support, the consortium is, in effect, managing the LXI peak of
inflated expectations and trough of disillusionment.
Positioning LXI as a replacement platform for an existing standard
will amplify the peaks and valleys. However, by promoting the
standard as complementary to existing standards and emphasizing
LXI’s benefits and features, these same excursions can be minimized.
When positioned correctly, the LXI standard and products will
quickly progress to the final stage of the cycle—the plateau of
productivity.
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When
developing a new product or analyzing a market for new
opportunities, most people start with the familiar and build or
evolve products based on their current technical and market
knowledge. In many ways, the LXI standard can be viewed as an
extension of established hardware and software standards, which
certainly is a compelling reason to adopt it for an instrument or
include the technology as part of an overall system design. The risk
is low that the implementation will fail, and there is the comfort
factor that a designer of an instrument or test system is working
with known technologies and standards.
In general, the development of the standard has largely focused on
how LXI can work successfully with existing instrumentation,
networking, and software standards, providing a certain level of
comfort for both designers and users of LXI devices. The adoption
and integration of LXI is a logical evolution of the test and
measurement universe toward embracing the IP/data-centric
communications standards.
However, there may be other opportunities for LXI that are not
evolutionary but rather more revolutionary. Wireless instrumentation
and applications based on 802.11 offer the opportunity to build and
deploy data acquisition and distributed test systems. These
implementations might incorporate sensors or devices that don’t
resemble any of today’s familiar rack-mount devices but are,
nonetheless, test and measurement systems. Or how about a modular
instrumentation system that uses a LAN/LXI-based control backplane
with distributed DC power that may even include an integral router,
switch, or hub?
The adoption of a new standard by an industry can open up
opportunities beyond what you might normally consider as a given.
Just look at how far IP-based communications have advanced. No one
would have thought 10 years ago that IPTV would be a realistic
technology, but today it is on the cusp of being implemented by a
variety of service providers. Looking beyond the familiar or logical
can create not just good but great new products and solutions.
So as you think about how you might use LXI for building your next
test system or next instrument, think beyond the box. You might be
surprised at how many new products, solutions, or even markets you
can develop.
Mike Dewey,
Editor
miked@geotestinc.com
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January 2006
Now the Real Work Begins
Mike Dewey
It’s hard to believe, but it’s now been a year since the LXI
Consortium was formed. During that time, 39 vendors and users have
joined the consortium and devoted significant time and effort to
developing the LXI 1.0 Standard that was released the week of Sept.
26, 2005.
Bob Rennard, president of the LXI Consortium, noted in his column in
the October 2005 issue of LXI ConneXion how impressed he was with
the level of cooperation and commitment demonstrated by all members
as the 1.0 specification was developed and approved. Much of the
credit goes to the various technical committees that, week after
week, conducted their conference calls, slogged their way through
both major and minor issues, and worked to maintain a collaborative
environment.
Having been involved with stand-ards groups, I can appreciate the
amount of effort it takes to develop a standard. I congratulate the
consortium for reaching the 1.0 milestone within a year after its
formation.
The challenge for the LXI Consortium now will be to maintain the
same level of effort and commitment that was devoted to the creation
of the 1.0 specification. As we move forward, the next year will be
a critical time for the standard as early adopters begin to
integrate LXI devices into legacy test systems that comprise an
alphabet soup of product types such as VXI, PXI, PCI, and GPIB.
A primary focus for vendors and the consortium must be the
successful and seamless integration of LXI devices within hybrid
systems. And just as important, the integration of an LXI
communications interface as part of hybrid systems will need to be
accomplished so existing test programs and code can be reused with
little or no changes.
This challenge is particularly acute when considering how best to
integrate modular instrumentation such as VXI and PXI into an LXI
architecture. These instruments don’t easily follow the box paradigm
that is prevalent in the current 1.0 specification although
specialized hardware adapters may help to make this integration
seamless.
Supporting the successful integration of LXI into both old and new
test systems and architectures while minimizing the impact on
existing hardware and software will be the next big challenge for
the consortium—a task that could be just as challenging as the
creation of the 1.0 specification.
Mike Dewey
Editor
miked@geotestinc.com
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October 2005
LXI –
What took you so long?
Mike Dewey
Welcome to the first issue of LXI
ConneXion. Our intention is to provide you with information and
insight about the evolving LAN eXtensions for Instrumentation (LXI)
standard, products, and applications and how it will benefit your
test requirements in the coming years.
When I became aware of this new standard, my initial response was
‘‘What took the test and measurement industry so long to formalize
the use of Ethernet as an instrumentation control interface?’’ Let’s
face it, IEEE 488, while being the communications bus workhorse for
instrumentation for more than 30 years, doesn’t come close to
competing with modern high-speed standard interfaces such as
Ethernet.
True, many instruments on the market today provide the option to use
Ethernet as the control interface. But like all standards,
specification ambiguities and vendor implementations can result in
potential interoperability issues and user frustration. In addition,
there are no current standards that incorporate hardware triggering
or LAN-based event timing—functions that are defined within the LXI
standard.
The success of this new standard from both a technical and financial
standpoint will require that the end user have a positive experience
with LXI, which includes hardware that is easy to set up, drivers
that function as advertised and work properly with application
development environments, and the flexibility to work with hybrid
systems that might include combinations of LXI, modular
instrumentation (PXI/VXI), and IEEE 488 instruments. In particular,
the need for LXI to work well within a hybrid system environment
will be key during the early phases of LXI deployment since many
test systems will have modular and IEEE instruments and only one or
two LXI devices.
Herein is a key point about LXI: The standard is not about replacing
or supplanting a specific instrumentation standard or platform.
Rather, the standard should be viewed as one that reflects the
logical evolution of the control-bus interface for automating
instrumentation.
In the end, standardizing the Ethernet interface for test and
measurement products and ensuring interoperability with other
instrumentation platforms will be key factors to the adoption and
success of LXI.
Mike Dewey
Editor
miked@geotestinc.com
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