Electronic Test Equipments
Electronic test equipment is used to create signals and capture responses from electronic devices under test (DUTs). In this way, the proper operation of the DUT can be proven or faults in the device can be traced. Use of electronic test equipment is essential to any serious work on electronics systems.
Practical electronics engineering and assembly requires the use of many different kinds of electronic test equipment ranging from the very simple and inexpensive (such as a test light consisting of just a light bulb and a test lead) to extremely complex and sophisticated such as automatic test equipment (ATE). ATE often includes many of these instruments in real and simulated forms.
Types of test equipment
Basic equipment
The following items are used for basic measurement of voltages, currents, and components in the circuit under test.
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Ohmmeter (Measures resistance)
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Ammeter, e.g. Galvanometer or Milliameter (Measures current)
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Multimeter e.g., VOM (Volt-Ohm-Milliammeter) or DMM (Digital Multimeter) (Measures all of the above)
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LCR meter - inductance (L), capacitance (C) and resistance (R) meter (measure LCR values)
The following are used for stimulus of the circuit under test:
The following analyze the response of the circuit under test:
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Oscilloscope (Displays voltage as it changes over time)
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Frequency counter (Measures frequency)
Several modular electronic instrumentation platforms are currently in common use for configuring automated electronic test and measurement systems. These systems are widely employed for incoming inspection, quality assurance, and production testing of electronic devices and subassemblies. Industry-standard communication interfaces link signal sources with measurement instruments in “rack-and-stack” or chassis-/mainframe-based systems, often under the control of a custom software application running on an external PC.
