To salute the essential role that the test engineer's ingenuity and hard work play in reliable, safe, and affordable products, Test & Measurement World announces its third annual Test Engineer of the Year competition. Thanks to the generosity of National Instruments, the winning candidate will designate a $20,000 donation to an engineering school. "This award not only recognizes an outstanding engineer for his or her innovative work, but it is a way to help future engineers through an educational grant," commented James Truchard, CEO of National Instruments.

Test & Measurement World will present the 2006 Test Engineer of the Year award at our "Best in Test" gala during the 2006 APEX Show (February 8–10, 2006, Anaheim, CA). In addition, the cover story of our March 2006 issue will profile the winning engineer.

Click here to go to the Test & Measurement World website.

	FUNCTIONAL TEST Michael Freeman Broadcom Engineers in the fast-paced communications market know that cutting time-to-market is vital. That's why Michael Freeman is such a key player on an R&D team that develops chipsets for broadband applications. The veteran test engineer has created and deployed a whole series of custom automated test systems—both hardware and software—for evaluating such products as complete cable modems on a chip.
	Among the testers he has designed is a downstream impairment test system that stresses RF tuners with a mixture of analog, QAM, and wideband noise to simulate worst-case CATV plant conditions. Freeman is particularly proud of a custom system he designed to test the interoperability of cable modems, wireless cable routers, and related products. This tester helps Broadcom and its customers prepare products for required industry certification. His latest challenge: testing embedded multimedia terminal adapters for the burgeoning voice-over cable market. Earlier in his career, Freeman developed extensive skills in environmental testing on defense systems. He has authored several technical papers on topics ranging from modular test to Visual Basic programming, and he has written a book on shock and vibration testing. Freeman serves as the president of the Atlanta chapter of the American Society of Test Engineers and maintains the ASTE's Web site. Michael Keller, executive director of the American Society of Test Engineers said, "Starting his career as a technician, Michael Freeman is now the test engineer's test engineer. His experience ranges from environmental testing to RF functional test. He became a lead software developer at Scientific Atlanta and now at Broadcom, and he has also developed functional testers for wired and wireless products in consumer electronics. Freeman's contributions to the engineering community include authoring several conference papers on environmental testing. He has also written extensively on software development, authored articles for Test & Measurement World, and written a book, Pioneers of Shock and Vibration. A member of the IEEE, Freeman also serves as president of the Atlanta Chapter of the American Society of Test Engineers (ASTE) and maintains the society's Web site."
Web links to more information on Mike Freeman's company, products, or test work:
Broadcom Corp. Broadcom's products and services ASTE Web site Mike Freeman's Testing Website (information on his test work, personal background, papers, etc.):
Go to 2006 Test Engineer of the Year ballot

ASTE Sponsors Technical Session at NEPCON East 2005.

Session Abstract

ASTE Session: What Should You Build? What Should You Outsource?
Chair: Bob Stasonis, ASTE
Date: Thursday, May 5: 3:00 pm- 4:00 pm
Location: 52-B

As the trend of outsourcing our manufacturing overseas continues, our nation and the region must discover what we can do to replace these transplanted jobs. In many cases, it's more of a reassessment of our resources and abilities and coming up with an economic model that shows what can be successful.

In the area of electronics manufacturing, there are certain niches that can and do thrive. This panel session will feature industry experts that will talk about what we can build, what we should outsource, and why. Companies who are re-evaluating their business model and possibly re-inventing themselves would benefit from the opinions of the panelist and those of the audience.

Speaker
Bob Stasonis - ASTE, Pickering Interfaces

www.nepconeast.com

ASTE Sponsors Technical Session at NEPCON East 2004.

Session Abstract

ASTE Session: Signal Switching in Functional Test
Chair: Bob Stasonis, ASTE
Date: Thursday, May 6: 2:00 pm- 5:00 pm

The issue of resource sharing in functional test is a known test strategy. The idea is that, rather than having a set of instruments and resources for each I/O, instruments and resources are shared via a signal-switching matrix. The advantages are lower cost of test, smaller footprint, and simplified test system design.

Too often, little attention is paid to the selection and integration of a signal switching architecture. Test speeds can suffer, accuracy and repeatability are in question, and potential system reliability can all be issues.

This session will examine several applications of signal switching and the process that was applied in implementing a signal switching architecture in a functional test system. Designers and users of functional test systems in a manufacturing, product verification or a depot environment will benefit form attending this session.

Speakers
Bob Stasonis - Signal Switching Overview

Sujit Basu - National Instruments - "Software Issues when Defining Signal Switching"

Tom Safri - VXI Technology - TBD

www.nepconeast.com

ASTE supports NEPCON West 2002.

The ASTE will Support NEPCON West 2002, in San Jose, CA by having a booth, chairing 4 test related technical session and chairing a panel
on Microsoft.NET with test industry experts.

ASTE to Present Two Sessions

The American Society of Test Engineers (ASTE) will continue it’s association with NEPCON by presenting two courses as part of the NEPCON West conference. “Microsoft.net and it’s Implications for Test” will be presented as a panel discussion moderated by the Executive Director of ASTE, Michael Keller. As part of the technical program, “PXI and Test-Architecture and Applications” will features presentations by National Instruments, Teradyne, and Third Millennium Test Systems.

Vist the NEPCON website for more information:

www.nepconwest.com

ASTE Executive Director, Michael Keller, on duty at the ASTE booth during NEPCON East 2000 in Boston, MA.


ASTE Sessions at NEPCON East
June 10-12, 2002
Bayside Expo & Conference Center
Boston, Massachusetts

PXI -101
Date: Wednesday, June 12
Time: 9:00 AM -12:00 PM
Chairperson: Bob Stasonis,Teradyne

Functional Test - Build, Buy, or Outsource
Date: Tuesday, June 11
Time: 8:00-10:00 AM
Chairperson: Bob Stasonis,Teradyne

Military Testing Issues
Date: Wednesday, June 12
Time: 1:00-3:00 PM
Chairperson: Michael E. Keller, Sr., ASTE Executive Director and Senior
Staff Engineer - Dynamics Research Corp. Andover, MA

Click here for full listing of Nepcon IEEE/ASTE Sessions