Testing

Historically, component temperature has been correlated with reliability, with early studies relating field failure rates to steady-state component temperature. More recently, physics-based reliability prediction has related failure rates of electronic assemblies to the magnitude of temperature change over an operational cycle (power-on, power-off, power-on…) and rate of temperature change, both of which are influenced by steady-state operating temperature. Electronics failures ...

Remote operations may have been accelerated by the pandemic, but they were already well established to improve productivity and safety, says Andrea Vinci. With engineers frequently around hazardous equipment such as dynamometers, any measures to remove personnel from risk are welcome. Meanwhile, the skills shortage in engineering continues to bite. Retaining experience and knowledge while training a new generation is ...

The choice of battery for an application is critical. It affects the bill of materials and product lifetime cost, says Björn Rosqvist. Consider a battery-powered remote sensor. The cost of its battery is usually small compared with the overall product cost, but then think about the cost of replacing that battery. For wireless sensors deployed in remote areas, used for ...

Pulsar Fusion, UK aerospace company, has successfully tested its large-scale plasma engine designed for propelling larger satellites. The work was partly funded by the UK Space Agency (UKSA) and the engine, which is 10 times larger than conventional engines of its kind, was fired at the University of Southampton at the end of last month, Pulsar has announced. The project ...

One judge described the Rhinoe DRAM tester as a “big advancement in DRAM testing. I spot a Raspberry Pi in there too!” Another commented on the evidence of innovation for this “attention grabbing product”. Another judge spotted its potential to solve the critical problem of how to test small batch memory production and undertake a root cause analysis for smaller ...

A compact wireless data acquisition system can investigate, monitor and optimise electric rotor motor operation, say Rolf Spellmeyer and Diego Llopis. In modern electric vehicles, different types of electric motors are available. Automobile manufacturers may select asynchronous or synchronous motors, and in some cases, they combine both motor types in one vehicle. In this context, synchronous motors are considered more ...

The race for 5G from space is speeding up. Lockheed Martin has completed a final demo of what it describes as its first regenerative non-terrestrial network 5G Satellite Base Station (gNodeB). Basically, where a satellite provides signal regeneration, for bridging comms between Earth and a satellite network. It was the final demo prior to a self-funded space mission. The plan ...

Delvitech is proud to announce and show a new generation of Automated Optical Inspection systems for the electronic and mechanical manufacturing. Electronic assembly process is moving towards more and more hidden complexity. Varied shaped parts increasing difficulties related to shadows, large components with small pins, high components with short pins, continuous changeover in production due to parts availability, mix of ...

We recently had the opportunity to catch up with Lee Harrison, Director of Product Marketing for Siemens EDA, to talk about Streaming Scan Network (SSN) buses and the next-generation of design-for-test technology. In the interview, for example, he discusses the significant changes involved with SSN, de-coupling complexity and dependencies, and delivering test-pattern content in a packetised format. Watch the interview ...

Software testing is essential to space exploration, says Gareth Smith of Keysight Technologies. One of the biggest changes in space exploration in the past decade is that it is being driven not by governments but by private businesses and billionaire entrepreneurs. This is fuelling explosive growth, with space missions now commonplace. For example, SpaceX carried out more than one voyage ...