NIWOT, CO -- 11/10/09 --
Aeroflex Corporation, Agilent Technologies Inc.,
and Test Evolution Corporation today proposed a new modular test standard,
AXIe (AdvancedTCA Extensions for Instrumentation and Test). AXIe is an
open standard based on AdvancedTCA (ATCA) that creates a robust ecosystem
of components, products and systems for general purpose instrumentation and
semiconductor test. AXIe leverages existing standards from ATCA, PXI, LXI
and IVI.
The AXIe standard provides the maximum scalability to address a range of
platforms including general purpose rack-and-stack, modular systems,
semiconductor ATE systems, bench top, and module plug-ins. "AXIe is the
first modular standard that addresses rack mounted systems by explicitly
matching the orientation of a rack: horizontal. The simple genius behind
this is that high performance instruments can be delivered on a large board
size, but take up very little rack height. This is in sharp contrast to
vertical oriented systems where the rack height is fixed regardless of the
number of modules. Of course, large ATE systems can use vertical AXIe
configurations, making the standard extremely scalable," said Larry
Desjardin, General Manager for Agilent's Modular Product Operation.
Why create another modular test standard? AXIe promises a number of key
benefits for instrument designers that will improve their ability to meet
the daunting test requirements from next-generation electronic products.
AXIe offers higher performance per rack inch, greater scalability, easy
integration with PXI, LXI and IVI, more modularity, more flexibility, and
significant reduction of development and unit costs. AXIe is an ideal
complement to the LXI and PXI standards. It includes PCIe and LAN
interfaces, so that AXIe instruments can act like virtual PXI or LXI
instruments. A test system controller wouldn't be able to tell the
difference, so an AXIe instrument can integrate seamlessly into a system,
while yielding very high performance.
The ATCA PICMG 3.0 Standard -- the foundation for the AXIe standard -- is a
proven open-system architecture with a large board size, which is ideal for
high performance instrumentation. This board size matches that of planar
instrument design, so the result is rack space efficiency using either
horizontal or vertical configurations. Users can integrate instrumentation
from one slot to fourteen slots, one chassis to many chasses, or even use
embedded PXI or PCI modules via adapters, contributing to the highest
scalability. ATCA is also ideal for high power applications with single
rail power management and robust cooling. Virtual LXI and PXI designs are
possible with ACTA's LAN and PCIe data fabric support. Robust system
management is provided by the "Intelligent Platform Management Interface
(IPMI)" that enables both single chassis and multi-chassis system control
functions. The AXIe standard is structured to allow future extensions that
can include Signal I/O, custom backplanes, and liquid cooling.
AXIe is a layered architecture. The foundation is ATCA (PICMG 3.0 and
3.4), which provides a large board size, LAN and PCIe as well as system
management. The AXIe 1.0 builds upon this ATCA foundation for general
purpose instrumentation adding core triggering capability, timing and a
very high speed local bus. Extensions to AXIe 1.0 may be designed for
specific application areas, such as semiconductor test (AXIe 1.1).
AXIe integrates seamlessly with existing standards such as PXI, LXI and IVI
in a typical rack and stack configuration. For example, PXI instruments
can be mounted vertically and use rack-mounted, embedded, or desktop
controllers. AXIe modules mounted horizontally in the same rack can act
as virtual PXI or LXI instruments. LXI box instruments can also be added.
All of these instruments can employ standard IVI drivers that work in all
Application Development Environments.
"AXIe removes the division between instruments and systems. I believe AXIe
will drive a new business model in the industry, which will lower costs
throughout general purpose and semiconductor test," remarked Lev
Alperovich, President and CEO of Test Evolution Corporation.
For more information, go to the AXIe Consortium website at
www.axiestandard.org.
About the AXIe Consortium
The founding members of the AXIe Consortium are Aeroflex Corporation,
Agilent Technologies Inc., and Test Evolution Corporation. AXIe is a
proposed standard based on AdvancedTCA (ACTA) with extensions for
instrumentation and test. The mission of the AXIe Consortium is to provide
an open standard based on ATCA that creates a robust ecosystem of
components, products and systems for general purpose instrumentation and
semiconductor test. AXIe leverages existing standards from PXI, LXI and
IVI. AXIe promises high scalability and performance that will address a
range of platforms including ATE systems, rack-and-stack modular, bench
top, and module plug-ins.
AXIe Consortium membership is open to all vendors who agree with the stated
goals and intend to provide solutions to the marketplace.
AXIe Consortium Contact:
Bob Helsel
Executive Director
303-652-1311
Email Contact
