News Briefs

Agilent Technologies announced last month that it will exit the semiconductor-test and semiconductor-fabrication markets as it repositions itself as a "pure play" test and measurement concern. As a result, Agilent's memory-test and SOC-test businesses will be spun off as an independent company, according to Jack Trautman, president of Agilent's automated test group. He said he expects an IPO for the spin-off to occur in the middle of 2006. Trautman (pictured) added that personnel and geographic issues have yet to be worked out.

In addition to spinning off the semiconductor-test business, Agilent will divest its semiconductor products segment to private equity firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Silver Lake Partners for $2.66 billion. Agilent will also sell its stake in Lumileds to Royal Philips Electronics for $950 million plus repayment of $50 million of debt from Lumileds. Agilent expects those divestitures to be completed by October 31.

Trautman said the divestitures would discourage investors from lumping Agilent together with volatile semiconductor stocks even though semiconductors and related test equipment constitute a small portion of the company's business. "Agilent has been undervalued for a long time," he said. Read a detailed interview with Trautman.

At a press conference held concurrently with NIWeek 2005 (August 16–18, Austin, TX), the PXI Systems Alliance (PXISA) announced its PXI Express specification, which integrates PCI Express and CompactPCI Express technology into the PXI standard. With PXI Express, engineers can achieve bandwidths up to 6 Gbps per system, representing a 45-fold improvement when compared to traditional PXI systems, while preserving software and hardware compatibility with existing PXI products, according to Eric Starkloff, director of product marketing at National Instruments.

PXI Express uses electrical features defined by the PCI Express spec, and PXI Express modules are compatible with the new CompactPCI Express (EXP.0) spec from the PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group. Thus, a single measurement system will be able to support both PXI Express and CompactPCI Express modules. www.pxisa.org.

The IEEE has begun developing two standards for using automatic test markup language to exchange test and instrument descriptions via XML.

IEEE P1671.1, "Trial-Use Standard Automatic Test Markup Language (ATML) for Exchanging Automatic Test Equipment and Test Information via XML: Exchanging Test Descriptions," will define a format using XML to exchange information on test performance and conditions. It will allow the use of test descriptions to locate, align, and verify the operation of a unit under test, to help in preparing and documenting test programs, and to provide a common description for automatic test systems (ATSs) in the semiconductor, automotive, aerospace, and military sectors.

IEEE P1671.2, "Trial-Use Standard Automatic Test Markup Language (ATML) for Exchanging Automatic Test Equipment and Test Information via XML: Exchanging Instrument Descriptions," will focus on the test and diagnosis of electronic systems by providing common instrument descriptions to be shared across a variety of ATSs. ATML will involve applying an XML-based format to an instrument's description.

Both projects are sponsored by Standards Coordinating Committee 20—"Test and Diagnosis for Electric Systems." standards.ieee.org.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will host a workshop in early October to assist US manufacturers in meeting the new European Union Directive on Restriction of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS), which goes into effect in July 2006. Lead, which is widely used in solder, is one of the substances covered by the new directive.

Workshop participants will assess the measurement and standards needs of US companies as they respond to the EU restrictions and then produce a plan for preventing the restrictions from becoming a barrier to the global marketplace. "The Restricted Substances in Materials: Testing and Reporting Procedures" workshop will be held October 5-7 at the NIST campus in Gaithersburg, MD. www.nist.gov/public_affairs/confpage/051005.htm.

The AFG3000 line of arbitrary waveform/function generators bridge a gap between low-end and high-end signal generators. The top-end AFG3252 creates sine waves at up to 240 MHz and pulses and arbitrary waveforms with 125-MHz frequency, letting you generate signals above 100 MHz without having to use a 500-MHz RF signal generator.

The AFG3000 line consists of six models, each with an LCD that lets you see your outgoing signal without an oscilloscope. The six models consist of three bandwidths (25 MHz, 100 MHz, and 240 MHz) that create sine-wave signals on one or two channels. All models let you store up to four arbitrary waveforms, with two models storing up to 64 ksamples and four models storing up to 128 ksamples. You can use the instruments to create AM, FM, PM, FSK, and PWM-modulated signals as well as pulses and other waveforms.

The AFG3000 instruments come with ArbExpress software that lets you generate waveforms captured by Tektronix scopes or defined in Matlab files or comma-delimited text files. You can upload waveform files through USB, Ethernet, or IEEE 488 ports.

Prices: $1780 to $8500. Tektronix, www.tektronix.com.

The Dalsa Coreco ipd division has announced M versions of the company's NetSight II machine-vision systems. The M versions are form and fit compatible with their predecessors but can deliver up to three times the overall performance, according to the company. They include a 1.6-GHz processor with 2 Mbytes of local cache and 512 Mbytes of high-speed program memory.

In addition to the standard analog and Camera Link interfaces, NetSight II M systems are compatible with IEEE 1394 and GigE Ethernet technologies. The new multichannel MCA product, for example, can acquire images from three digital IEEE 1394 cameras and three standard analog cameras simultaneously.

NetSight II M systems provide users with a choice of software options for building vision applications. For end users and integrators, the systems are supported by ipd's Sherlock vision software. For integrators or machine builders who wish to port their own software, the systems come with a library of C++ functions to access the individual hardware components.

Base price: $2995. Dalsa Coreco ipd, www.goipd.com.

International Test Conference (ITC), November 8–10, Austin, TX. Sponsored by IEEE. www.itctestweek.org.

Vision 2005, November 8–10, Stuttgart, Germany. Produced by Messe Stuttgart. www.vision-messe.de.

Productronica, November 15–18, Munich, Germany. Produced by Messe München. www.global-electronics.net/id/21310.

To learn about other conferences, courses, and calls for papers, visit www.tmworld.com/events.