Greetings,

Welcome to the official month of Spring. The Vernal equinox is only a few days away and marks the time when days are now longer than nights. For those of you that like winter sports, it’s time to Summer-ize the skis, boards, sleds, shoes, skates, and other Winter paraphernalia, and just wait until next year.

Don’t miss a rare training opportunity – Data Acquisition and Signal Conditioning – April 12-13, 2010.

Next month Viewpoint is offering this rarely held class. If you use LabVIEW for data-acquisition this is a great class to explore the fundamentals needed to make the best possible measurements. You will benefit by learning about noise suppression techniques, analog input modes, analog triggering, signal conditioning, signal processing, analog output, digital I/O, and counters.

Using NI LabVIEW software, plug-in data acquisition devices, and signal conditioning hardware, explore the fundamentals of PC-based data acquisition and signal conditioning. During this course, you will gain hands-on experience installing and configuring data acquisition hardware and learn to use data acquisition software functions to build your application.

By the end of the course, you will know how to develop integrated, high-performance data acquisition systems that produce accurate measurements.

Cool Projects

Viewpoint is working with GDJ, Inc. of Mentor, Ohio to create remote physical laboratories for universities and high schools. GDJ has created several pieces of equipment such as single cylinder engine dynamometer test cells, turbine engine test cells and wind tunnels. Each of these pieces of equipment can be remotely controlled and operated allowing anyone with an internet connection to run experiments and collect data. Viewpoint has helped GDJ by developing the LabVIEW RT and FPGA based software to run the equipment. By using National Instruments remote panel technology, these applications can be used by any university or high school around the world. Future equipment will focus on chassis dynamometer, rocket motors, rocket sleds and drop towers. Check out www.gdjinc.com for more information on GDJs products.

This month continues the series on 7 Challenges for Highly Effective Test Engineers with a discussion about Maintenance.

Thanks for reading!

Jim Campbell
jac@viewpointusa.com

It is the Spring seminar season. Viewpoint will be presenting at the upcoming National Instruments Developer Days in Cleveland and Rochester on March 25 and 30, respectively. The presentation topic is about managing large, multi-developer applications.

We are also planning to continue last year’s successful Best Practices for Effective Test seminar by having it at client facilities, rather than at a hotel or conference center. This approach will allow more confidential and in-depth discussions on topics of interest. If you’d like to have us present at your facility, please contact Fred Genett with any questions. You will likely remember this seminar from our Spring and Fall 2009 announcements. Briefly, the topics covered are:

• Test Challenges – Discuss major considerations when developing new or refurbishing old test systems with regard to time and cost saving issues for test time, obsolescence and budget.

• System Development – Review considerations for organizing and planning your tools, resources, processes and personnel.

• Test Technologies – Understand hardware and software choices and requirements; make selections to fit your needs and budget restrictions.

• System Development Life Cycle – Be aware of issues at all stages from specification and design through maintenance and obsolescence.

• Business Integration Considerations – See the bigger picture of how test fits into your organization as a whole and efficiencies that can be created within other business processes.

Last month, we discussed platform choices. These decisions are made at the start of the project. However, this month’s topic covers the other end of the timescale, after equipment becomes old and possibly obsolete. Maintenance is not just about the measurement equipment. All test system components age and at different rates. How does maintenance affect platform choices and system design and what can you do to minimize the effects of aging? Find out here.

March 15 1985: The internet’s first registered domain name comes online at symbolics.com for Symbolics, a Massachusetts computer company. Throughout all of 1985, only five more companies registered domain names. After one year, the total count of domains was at ten. IBM and Sun registered just over a year later on March 19, 1986. Intel and AMD both joined later in 1986. Apple registered on Feb 19, 1987. Microsoft waited until 1991 to buy theirs.

The market for unique addresses was barely in existence then, and the idea of squatting would not appear for years. Since then, the market has exploded to push several of the most desired domains into the multi-million dollar price range. Currently, sex.com reigns as the most expensive domain ever. Network Solutions sold the site in 1994 and was resold in 2006 for an estimated $14 million. On March 18 the domain will be auctioned starting at $1 million.

Source: https://www.iwhois.com/oldest/

Source: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/03/hot-property-sexcom-on-the-auction-block/

To register, visit ni.com/training
or call 585-475-9555.