Getting Started
Product Description
System
Configuration
The Tektronix/CDS Instrument on a Card (IAC) System is an easy-to-use
integrated modular system for implementing automatic testing, data acquisition
and control, and remote-monitoring instrumentation systems. Based on IAC
technology, the system permits the compact, inexpensive "test station in a box"
approach to ATE, instead of bulky, expensive, "rack and stack" stations.
Versatile and rugged, the Tektronix/CDS IAC system provides significant
advantages in space, cost, and performance.
One of the primary building blocks for this system is a Tektronix/CDS VXIbus
mainframe for C size and smaller modules. Tektronix/CDS offers two versions
of a C size mainframe with 13 slots capacity. (A five-slot C size mainframe, the
VX1405, is also available.) The two 13-slot mainframes, the VX1400 and
VX1401, provide alternatives not only in cost, power, and weight, but also in
dynamic current and noise performance.
The VX1400 Mainframe provides slightly more useable power (702 Watts vs. 570
Watts). At lower cost and weight, though, the VX1401 Mainframe is the
preferred model in most other respects. By making more efficient use of
available power, the VX1401 provides substantially better dynamic current
capacity and low noise levels over a wider range of instrument loading than the
VX1400. The lower power capacity also permits extending the operating
temperature range to -10" to 55" C (from 0" to 50" C).
The VX1400 or VX1401 Mainframe is designed to hold up to 12 instrument
modules plus a Resource Manager/Slot 0 module, such as the Tektronix/CDS
VX4521 Advanced Slot 0 Device/Resource Manager Module, for use in IEEE-488
applications with an external system controller. Alternately, the mainframe can
use an embedded PC-AT-386 compatible system controller/slot 0 unit, such as
the Tektronix/CDS VX4544. The VX4544, with a hard drive, floppy drive, and
a full-size expansion slot, occupies three instrument slots, leaving ten slots for
instrument modules.
The VX1401 is delivered complete with backplane, power supplies, all chassis
hardware, and a decorative front
ane el.
The unit also includes rack mounting
hardware so that it may be mounted in a standard 19 inch NEMA equipment
rack. Sufficient room (3 inches) is provided between the front panel and the
metal front panel of the IAC modules to conceal cables being routed to the
UUT
(Unit Under Test) or other instruments. Cables are normally routed from
connectors located on the module front panels through an integral cable tray to
the rear of the chassis. In addition, vertical cabling between instruments in
VX1401 Mainframes is provided by cabling openings at the top and bottom of
the chassis in front of the instrument front panels. (Note that the unit may be
operated without the decorative panel installed. The thermal integrity of the
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