Speedy digital tester exploits PC resources

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Sep 16, 2004

The USBee SX digital test pod combines a deep sample buffer logic analyser and signal generator all in one compact and easy to use unit.

The USBee SX digital test pod is an affordable high performance USB High-Speed based pod that functions as a deep sample buffer logic analyser and signal generator all in one compact and easy to use unit.

The USBee SX digital test pod uses the USB High-Speed bus to turn an existing PC into a high powered digital logic analyser or signal generator that can store enough samples to fill available PC memory.

"The USBee SX was designed specifically for students and home hobbyists, and incorporates our deep sample buffer streaming technology", states Tim Harvey, CWAV's Director of Marketing, "which enables hundred-million-sample traces".

"Since the USBee SX pod can capture or generate hundred-million-sample waveforms, it opens the door to a type of control and analysis that was not cost feasible before for many embedded developers".

CWAV has designed the USBee SX system to take advantage of already existing PC resources.

The USBee SX pod streams data over the High-Speed USB bus to and from the PC, allowing the PC to perform all of the triggering and data storing.

This makes possible an affordable USBee SX, while pushing the sample storage capabilities orders of magnitudes beyond that of traditional dedicated logic analysers or signal generators.

The USBee SX digital test pod can use available PC memory as the sample buffer, allowing selectable sample depths from one to many hundreds of millions of samples.

Included in the logic analyser module that runs on the USBee SX is an I2C, SPI and async serial bus decoder that can extract the data from these buses from captured traces.

The USBee SX digital test pod can capture and generate samples up to a maximum of 24 million samples per second depending on the PC configuration.

The USBee SX auto-calibration feature automatically reduces the sample rate to ensure accurate and reliable timing, even on systems with slower processor and USB bus speeds.

The USBee SX digital test pod provides each of the different test and control capabilities depending on the software that is run on the PC.

The software for the USBee SX is provided for free at www.usbee.com and will run in demonstration mode with no USBee SX pod attached to the PC.

The USBee SX is priced at US $295.