Considering all of the automated design tools, fault-tolerant components, and test strategies that we employ to ensure the highest possible product quality, why do big-ticket items like household appliances fail more often than they used to? Perhaps such high-technology products conform to the wisdom from Scotty on Star Trek: "The more they complicate the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain." This discussion anecdotally illustrates that particular truism. Remember it the next time you think about trading in your time-honored relic for the modern equivalent.

Isoprobe III-HP — high-frequency test probe with integrated high-pass filter for transient measurement in network analyses. Rated voltage max. 1000V, CAT III / 600V, CAT IV.

Isoprobe IV — compact high-frequency test probe for easy measurement in restricted space. Available as 10:1 and 100:1 divider probes. Rated voltage max. 300V, CAT III.

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Need a fast, accurate, and mobile alternative to pen-and-paper gathering of data to support the Production Part Approval Process (PPAP)? Guardian Business Solutions is offering a new Quality Inspection Capture (QUIC) app for android and iPhone/iPad users. The software saves time and provides useful information to the quality department on troublesome parts, where problems are occurring in the process, and what corrective actions are being taken.

Major pharmaceutical manufacturers are increasingly linking operations management software with Quality Management Systems (QMS) that trigger corrective and preventive actions (CAPA), reports PharmTech. By marrying these data systems, a problem during production automatically triggers a deviation process within a CAPA system. Result: faster resolution of deviations and reduced shipment delays. Ultimately, companies want a single system that provides full traceability of requirements through testing, defects, and corrective action. See related video.

With its new state-of-the-art testing facility in Rockville, MD, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission increases its lab space by 250%. The new National Testing and Evaluation Center will feature such new equipment as a tilt table that will measure all-terrain-vehicle road stability, and new chambers to conduct mattress flammability testing and carbon monoxide alarm testing. See updates on the agency's latest product recalls, ranging from air conditioners to yard tractors.

Event data recorders (EDRs), commonly known as "black boxes," may soon be required for all new light vehicles sold in the U.S. The proposed new rule would cost industry about $25 million. However, Design News reports that engineering groups like IEEE are urging that lockout devices be installed as part of EDRs to prevent unauthorized downloads. About 20,000 cars are towed every day in the U.S. with insecure data.

Wilks Enterprise offers two rugged, portable, easy-to-use mid-infrared analyzers for the Biofuels Industry that provide measurement data in less than one minute. These instruments have been specifically designed for on-site analysis and can be operated by personnel having little or no knowledge of infrared analytical techniques.

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The inexorable growth of 10G networks puts pressure on test strategy developers to reduce test time. This company addresses the challenge by permitting you to test five 10G ports and 10 lower-speed ports simultaneously. The tester provides the features for testing both today's and tomorrow's networks, including Ethernet, Fibre Channel, SONET, and OTN.

One drawback to incorporating tiny machines into your products by the millions is that you need to test them to be sure that they work. For MEMS, a new family of systems can test up to 32 devices in parallel. Their modular design allows easy integration into gravity feed, test-in-strip, and pick-and-place handlers.

How can you test today's top-of-the-line application processors on boards and systems at-speed and without extensive test-program development? In this case, incorporate software support for boundary-scan hardware. This tool offers standard interface tests for memory and I/O, fully automated programming for supported peripherals, and an integrated scripting environment to customize tests. Test execution requires no boot code.

This latest entry in the coordinate-measurement sweepstakes offers a user-friendly environment applicable in a wide range of applications. The manufacturer has incorporated the speed and accuracy of photogrammetry to its existing cadre of tools. Combining the company's measurement system with powerful software provides real-time visualization and validation to reduce positioning time, especially with larger parts.

RNDT, Inc. is centrally located in Pennsylvania to support any testing needs that your company may have relating to the Marcellus Shale Formations. RNDT, Inc. has a fleet of nine 4 x 4 mobile darkroom trucks and experienced radiographers to handle all pipeline and piping fabrication examinations.

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