Analog Bus Extension for PXI
Analog Bus Extension for PXI , ABex for short, is an open industry standard that was developed by Konrad Technologies and is used as a further development of the general CompactPCI and PCI eXtensions for Instrumentation (PXI) standards in the field of automated test systems. Initially developed as an in-house test system infrastructure, the system architecture was disclosed and is available to members of the ABex system alliance.
Main intention of ABex is to minimize the wiring effort and the associated potential sources of interference in the implementation of ATE systems ( English Automated Test Equipment ). A positive side effect is the significantly faster creation time for test systems and the improved signal quality. Apply ABex-based test systems in the electronics production in functional test and in-circuit test and in semiconductor testers for mixed-signal , Protocol-Aware and MEMS test.
In addition to PXI, an ABex system offers a backplane with an analog bus and a power bus as well as terminal modules that are used for wireless connection between the system components. The required system components are supplied by several manufacturers and are constantly being further developed. With the help of the terminal module concept, application-specific instruments can be implemented, e.g. B. Pin electronics (electronics with contact pins) for the semiconductor test. Commercially available FPGA cards, e.g. B. from National Instruments , combined with instrument extensions on the terminal module.
ABex is fully compatible with PXI. In an ABex system, either standard PXI chassis with up to 18 slots are used or have a directly integrated PXI backplane.