There are three main ways that people in the electronic testing business today make touch between the PCB being tested and the functional test fixtures. There are three types of fixtures: long-wire fixtures, which have been used for more than a generation; short-wire fixtures, which offer a more direct way for testing; and wireless functional testing fixtures, which were created to get around the problems that come with long-wire fixture testing. As part of its functional test business, EMC Technologies makes discretely wired and wireless functional test devices that are used to test printed circuit boards.

Long-wire fittings have been the standard for functional test devices for more than a generation. Long-wire fittings are something that almost everyone who works in product development or electronic testing is familiar with. They can be a very cost-effective way to test printed circuit boards with a low number of nodes because they don’t have the one-time costs that come with designing and making a PCB. That being said, there are some limits. Due to the way the wiring is laid out, long-wire fittings have issues like connection issues and crosstalk. It can get very pricey to make technical changes to deal with these problems, especially when a lot of pins need to be added. Also, it can be hard to keep an eye on or even find any changes to the wires that aren’t approved or recorded.

Wireless Functional Testing

In long-wire fixtures, the open sheet metal box is swapped out for lower profile rails. This is the main difference between long-wire and short-wire fixtures. The signal lines can now connect the unit being tested (UUT) to the functional test devices in a more direct way thanks to this change. Additionally, short-wire fixtures offer a higher level of signal integrity, but wireless functional testing fixtures are still better in this area. The cost of designing and making short-wire fixtures is about the same as that of long-wire fixtures and wireless functional test fixtures. Because short-wire fixtures are smaller and have more wires, it can be harder and cost more to change them to make them work better than long-wire fittings. Because of this, this kind of device is the hardest to change.

When comparing wireless functional test fixtures to the other two types, they are clearly the winner. This is because wireless fixtures were specifically made to fix the problems that long-wire fixtures caused. It also gets rid of the problems that come up when you try to change the way short-wire fittings work. A multilayer printed circuit board (PCB) is used instead of data lines for wireless functional testing. This unique PCB is called a T-board or translation board, and it was made with standard fixture build files. Because designers can choose how each line is handled, the wireless fixtures can work much more reliably than the wired functional test fixtures.

Printed Circuit Boards and Testing

When it comes to testing electronics, portable functional testing will always be the best choice when dependability and regularity are important. Because there aren’t any moving wires, the electrical factors are very reliable, and duplicate fixtures can work almost exactly the same way. When you use wireless functional test tools, problems like crosstalk, reflection, and noise are also made better. It is possible to run the test much faster because the signs are much clearer. This gives the test system speed in most cases. Because the electronics inside the fixture are small, the height of the fixture is also lower, which saves room in the manufacturing setting.

There have been big changes in how printed circuit board testing is done because of the progress made in wireless functional testing. If the probe or socket isn’t lined up right in wired fixtures, there is a bigger chance of a fake failure. Our functional test section has seen over and over that wireless fixtures can improve the accuracy of probes just by the way they are built. There are some problems with wireless fixings, like the fact that they can’t be used with PCBs that have few probes and that you can’t see where the wires go, but the pros are greater than the cons.

Electronic Testing Business Services

You can call our engineering and design team at 508-672-0808 to find out more about wired and wireless functional testing or to work on making functional test tools for testing printed circuit boards. If you have any questions about our functional test section, we can answer them or help you make a solution that fits your needs and the needs of your industry.