For example, a perfect digital square wave is really derived from a fundamental sine wave and all its odd harmonics (hundreds to thousands) that have decreasing amplitude with each increasing order of harmonic content - again, analog! (Be sure to check out Richard Agard’s article " Understanding Harmonics Using Simulation").Īll in all, I can hardly imagine an electronics enthusiast without some sort of test bench. In reality, there is only one wave shape in the physics of electronics: the pure sine wave - which is analog!Īll other wave shapes are an algebraic addition of many sines waves added together versus time. This is especially true with ever-increasing speeds now employed - not to mention I/O ports to the real world such as sensors, etc. Even with digital design and when all the “number crunching” is completed, it still comes down to analog electronics. This article will be mainly pointed towards analog electronics, but much of this spills over to digital use as well.
I will address all these issues as sanely as possible based on my 40 years of building, acquiring, and using TE. Since I have written many articles on test equipment construction, I thought I would back-track this time and look at this from a different perspective: Why do we need TE (Test Equipment)? What variety of TE do we require? What is the best progression of adding TE? And, last but not least, what are the economics of arriving to a fully equipped test bench? It all comes down to standards and a point of reference (try building a house without the use of a tape measure or level). However, once the initial architecture is laid out for any design, test equipment will be required for both the starting point and ending point for those projects. Now, I am not trying to say that test equipment should be the ultimate goal in your electronics interest. As the old saying goes, “ I never had to work another day in my life.” A couple of years later and as luck would have it, I was hired by an R&D company that specialized in test equipment design and prototyping. As far as I was concerned, quality test gear design and construction was the yard stick by which all other circuits were measured.Īs time passed, my interest increased further in this area, mainly due to the design challenges it presented and the rewards of completion. The other reason was that in designing my own equipment or eventually buying commercial equipment, I was blown away by the quality of workmanship and cleverness of design. Bottom line is that I never lost my love or desire for quality test equipment. So, I had to do with what I had, or design and make up barebones test gear on my own. With this array of devices waiting for repair, I was literally drooling over high quality test equipment to make my job easier, but school tuition pretty much kept my back to the wall financially.
I had also started a small ship-to-shore electronics service business along with the above. This not only produced a small income to help with tuition fees, but also gave us invaluable hands-on insight to the actual working conditions of various circuits.
ELECTRONIC WORKBENCH DESIGN TV
Early on in getting my start in electronics and while still in the process of getting my education, I did what many other students were doing at that time - dabbling in radio and TV repair. Any of you that have followed my N&V articles over the past 10 years certainly know by now that I am a test equipment freak.