This is a test post
This is a test
ibnet_case_study_reliability
Mission Possible
With 11 identical test stations required, wires were out of the question…
Please wait while flipbook is loading. For more related info, FAQs and issues please refer to DearFlip WordPress Flipbook Plugin Help documentation.
ni_case_study_reliability
Mission Possible
With 11 identical test stations required, wires were out of the question…
Please wait while flipbook is loading. For more related info, FAQs and issues please refer to DearFlip WordPress Flipbook Plugin Help documentation.
what_is_important_results
Text is big
ALL HANDS MEETING Monday, 11/16/2020 at 3:30 PM
We will have an all hands meeting today, Monday 11/16/2020, at 3:30. Please meet in the back parking lot.
—
Thanks,
Chris Boggs
Corporate Development Manager
Interconnect Solutions and Services
T: 336.861.3100 Ext. 255 F: 336.861.6280
COVID Alert 11/13/2020
Dear Team,
We have been notified that an employee has tested positive for COVID-19. As an immediate response to protect the health and safety of our workforce, we are notifying all employees.
The employee was last at work on Friday, 11/6/2020 and has been quarantined since. Any potential exposure would have had to occur on or prior to 11/6. A second employee also reported illness in a similar time frame. We also required they quarantine and be tested. We received a negative test result from them today.
No additional employees have reported symptoms/illness since the quarantine started.
We have taken the following steps:
- Required employee self quarantine and get tested immediately upon being notified of symptoms and fever
- Sanitized affected work spaces after being notified of suspicion of infection
- Notified employees that may have been in close contact as defined by CDC guidelines
We ask that you abide by the following CDC guidelines to protect your health and those around you:
- Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after you have been in a public place, or after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing
- If soap and water are not readily available, use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent alcohol. Cover all surfaces of your hands and rub them together until they feel dry
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands
- Follow all recommendations provided by the CDC
Additionally, we ask that you:
- Be vigilant, pay close attention to your health and monitor temperature prior to coming to work
- If you have a temperature or feel ill, do not come to work and notify your supervisor
- Continue to screen your temperature when arriving at work and log it
- Continue to wear masks when inside the building to help prevent spread and transmission
- If you, or someone in your household, shows COVID-19 related symptoms, please notify your supervisor so that we may track any potential outbreaks within the company. All such information will be maintained confidentially
Your health and safety are our priority. We are continuing to monitor the situation and will update you with relevant developments.
We appreciate everyone continuing to do their best to support the business and our customers. These are trying times for us all, and we are here for you.
If you have questions about this, or anything related to this ongoing situation, please don’t hesitate to contact your supervisor, or myself.
—
Thanks,
Chris Boggs
Corporate Development Manager
Interconnect Solutions and Services
T: 336.861.3100 Ext. 255 F: 336.861.6280
COVID Alert 11/13/2020
Dear Team,
We have been notified that an employee has tested positive for COVID-19. As an immediate response to protect the health and safety of our workforce, we are notifying all employees.
The employee was last at work on Friday, 11/6/2020 and has been quarantined since. Any potential exposure would have had to occur on or prior to 11/6. A second employee also reported illness in a similar time frame. We also required they quarantine and be tested. We received a negative test result from them today.
No additional employees have reported symptoms/illness since the quarantine started.
We have taken the following steps:
- Required employee self quarantine and get tested immediately upon being notified of symptoms and fever
- Sanitized affected work spaces after being notified of suspicion of infection
- Notified employees that may have been in close contact as defined by CDC guidelines
We ask that you abide by the following CDC guidelines to protect your health and those around you:
- Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after you have been in a public place, or after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing
- If soap and water are not readily available, use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent alcohol. Cover all surfaces of your hands and rub them together until they feel dry
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands
- Follow all recommendations provided by the CDC
Additionally, we ask that you:
- Be vigilant, pay close attention to your health and monitor temperature prior to coming to work
- If you have a temperature or feel ill, do not come to work and notify your supervisor
- Continue to screen your temperature when arriving at work and log it
- Continue to wear masks when inside the building to help prevent spread and transmission
- If you, or someone in your household, shows COVID-19 related symptoms, please notify your supervisor so that we may track any potential outbreaks within the company. All such information will be maintained confidentially
Your health and safety are our priority. We are continuing to monitor the situation and will update you with relevant developments.
We appreciate everyone continuing to do their best to support the business and our customers. These are trying times for us all, and we are here for you.
If you have questions about this, or anything related to this ongoing situation, please don’t hesitate to contact your supervisor, or myself.
—
Thanks,
Chris Boggs
Corporate Development Manager
Interconnect Solutions and Services
T: 336.861.3100 Ext. 255 F: 336.861.6280
Durable Connectors
Durable connectors for real life test and measurement applications.
Challenge:
Years ago, it was merely science fiction to be able to not only send text wirelessly but also to send images, videos and large data packages. At the heart of these devices are semiconductors. Over the years, the industry has demanded more reliable semiconductors and at the same time, they have grown more complex. The combination of these two factors has put great emphasis on the need to ensure trouble-free operation over a long period. Testing of these semiconductors provides valuable insight into causes of failure, which in turn lead to improvements in the design of the semiconductor which then helps to improve the overall reliability of the wireless device.
Thermal over-stress, or excess heat, can cause semiconductors within wireless devices to fail. Excess heat melts materials and warps and breaks semiconductor dies. In general, semiconductors should not operate with a junction temperature above 125–150°C.
A heat test, or temperature test, is used to test the temperature sensitivity on all semiconductors during the research and development and production stages in the life of the semiconductor. Customers face challenges in producing accurate results while performing temperature testing of semiconductors. Concerns arise from insuring how radiant heat loss is kept to a minimum within the chamber, as well as making sure that the connector carrying the signal from within the heat chamber is durable enough to withstand the constantly high temperatures.
One of the other challenges, specific to this customer, is the high quantity of temperature test stations that were needed (300-400 per year) and their ability to produce the cabling for that many with the man power on staff.
Solution:
With its durable and rugged design, MAC Panel’s APEX connector was selected as the connector of choice for this customer’s application.
APEX boasts a rugged design with a strong military grade aluminum back shell and with the use of G10 (high-pressure fiberglass laminate) as the material used for the module plug and socket. This rugged design allowed for the customer to use it within their temperature testing chambers without worry of failure.
Also, MAC Panel’s wiring services were selected to help with the production of all APEX cables coming from the test station and into the temperature chambers.
MAC Panel’s IPC certified technicians produce the 300-400 cables a year to the customer’s demanding quality standards specified by the test architecture.
Solution Overview:
Customer Profile
Fortune 500 global semiconductor company that designs and manufactures radio frequency systems for applications within the wireless, broadband communications, and foundry services.
Challenges
- With the uptick in the wireless and communications market the customer was struggling to keep up with the demand of producing a cabled connection to temp chambers that could withstand the temperatures set by the test parameters (usually 125 degrees C +) in the quantities needed (300-400 per year).
Solutions
- The APEX connector was used due to its extreme durability.
- MAC Panel’s wiring services was chosen to produce the high quantity cables needed.
Value Created
- Allowed the customer to standardize on a connector solution for temp chambers on all product lines.
- MAC Panel’s in-house wiring capabilities allowed customer to be hands-off with this portion of the test builds, worry free.
APEX Connectors
The APEX connector was used due to its extreme durability.
Wiring Service
Wiring Services
MAC Panel’s wiring services was chosen to produce the high quantity cables needed.
Complete Solution
MAC Panel’s IPC certified technicians produce the 300-400 cables a year to the customer’s demanding quality standards specified by the test architecture.
Value Created
Utilizing the APEX connector and MAC Panel’s wiring services, the customer can perform temperature testing, worry free, for their line of semiconductors. MAC Panel’s total package solution (APEX connector and wiring services) has also allowed for the standardization of the temperature test station design across all semiconductor lines allowing for global deployment of these test stations to other customer facilities which reduces the number of vendors and man hours involved in the product of such testing stations which has provided huge overall cost savings to the customer.
ALL HANDS MEETING Wednesday, 10/14 AT 3:30PM
All hands meeting Wednesday 10/14, at 3:30. Meet in back parking lot.
Thanks,
Tracey Boggs
Office Manager
Interconnect Solutions and Services
T: 336.861.3100 Ext. 221 F: 336.861.6280
Aerospace Contractor Increases Test System Peformance
Mission Possible
With 11 identical test stations required, wires were out of the question…
Challenge:
As an original equipment manufacturer, the program required deployment of 11 identical PXI-based test systems to 3 unique sites testing NTISR sub-assemblies (non-traditional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) being manufactured at each site. The program required that each facility be able to test any one of the sub-assemblies. High-cost test equipment could not be duplicated at each site, so the test system architecture must allow for instrument interchangeability with no cabling modifications. If two sites swapped sub-assembly builds, a minimum set of instrumentation and interconnect was to be interchanged. Also, due to mission critical performance needs, each test station must electrically correlate to test systems at other sites, post an instrument interchange. Finally, time to TPS execution limited build time to a few months.
Solution:
With a history of serving mission critical applications, and experience in providing high performance mechanical test interface technologies for PXI based ATE, MAC Panel was selected by the customer to deliver test-rack interface components that would minimize obsolescence issues, eliminate error-prone custom cabling, and ensure signal integrity throughout the architecture of the test system.
In order to accomplish program requirements MAC Panel’s SCOUT mass interconnect solution was adopted for this project. The interface solution encompassed the use of MAC Panel DAK (direct access kit) technology and a wire free ITA design.
MAC Panel’s DAK technology eliminated the need for traditional cabling between the PXI instrumentation by way of enclosed PCB and flex circuit connections. The use of DAKs meant that the performance of the PXI test system was repeatable with each test system duplicate. The SCOUT solution also included cable free Interchangeable Test Adapters (ITA).
Leveraging SCOUT’s DAK technology and cable-free ITA technology minimized cabling between the instrumentation and the NTISR sub-assemblies. This method of interconnect reduced human errors, decreased debugging time, and ultimately reduced the time to test by more than 6 weeks.
Solution Overview:
Customer Profile
- A global major aerospace and defense contractor
- Core manufacturing concentrations in military communications systems and electronics
Challenges
•Deploying multiple ATE systems within a “copy-exact” methodology with each system maintaining the same high performance specifications
•Minimizing obsolescence management by selecting proven future-proof technologies
•Reduce overall time to test from 3 months to 6 weeks.
Solutions
•Reducing test rack cabling to minimize human errors during instrument test-rack build
•Standardize on commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) methods for test instrumentation to test adapter interconnect.
Value Created
•Enabled repeatable test system performance that capitalized on the PXI value proposition of being modular, scalable, and COTS
Reduced Wire ITA
Reduced Wire ITA
The use of PCB (motherboard) ITAs increases system and signal performance. Also, when producing several exact copy ITAs, PCBs fixtures are able to be cloned unlike cabled systems.
PCB DAKs
PCB DAKs
PCB boards are utilized within DAK technology to create more sustainable signal and increased performance between the D/UUT and system unlike the use of cables.
High Performance
The use of DAKs and reduced wire ITAs and SCOUT COTS solutions allowed for 11 identical high performing test stations to be designed, built, and deployed in a fraction of the time it would have taken had a more traditional wired approach been used.
Value Created
The customer’s test stream architecture based upon SCOUT mechanical interconnect empowered the contractor to deploy 11 test systems with confidence. Each high performing tester delivered repeatable measurement results no matter which test system was in use. The test system architecture enabled seamless integration, reduced time to test deployment, overall increase in flexibility, along with modularity benefits of PXI instrumentation.
In addition, the solution is scalable to support as many identical test stations as needed overtime as the program grows with repeatable results every time it is deployed and with every use.
Furthermore the success of this new “wire-free” method of interfacing has facilitated the customer to utilize this technology in a number of other test stations ultimately helping them win more contracts while also reducing over all cost of test.