Issue 4/2007

Welcome to our latest Newsletter about the Vibration & Environmental test world in addition to the latest information from m+p international.
The m+p international Newsletter is circulated exclusively to test engineers and managers involved in vibration test, data acquisition and signal analysis and hopes to bring you some useful technical snippets gleaned from around the world and from around the test and measurement industry. We always look forward to your inputs, send us your views to newsletter@mpihome.com.

If you have problems with the layout or if you can't see the correct whole newsletter, please use our online offer with the link: http://www.mpihome.com/english/nl4_2007_engl.htm.

The SO Analyzer is m+p international’s versatile real-time analyzer for noise and vibration measurement, analysis and reporting in the field and in the lab.

Our latest SO Analyzer Rev. 3.2 introduces a lot of new useful capabilities and enhancements to our software, a few of them are:

• The already excellent Reporting wizard has been further extended and simplified, e.g. automatic “batch”/”page”/”mix” report generation and the handy “Fixed traces” feature for overlaying upper/lower limit lines on vibration control test reporting.
• Multiple tacho/frequency inputs: This new feature, included as standard in DSA Pro, offers a low-cost solution to those applications that need a simple spectral mapping capability. For machinery applications as well as for swept sine analysis.
• Operating modal analysis: The SDOF and MDOF wizards now include the option of processing operational modal data.
• New 2D chart tools and labels.
• New time history display, recording and post-processing functions.
• Redesign of the Project Browser as a toolbar window and new multi-screen charts.
• The auto-range function has been enhanced to speed up set-up in larger channel-count systems.
• Pass-by-noise testing updated to the recently introduced “03” revision of the ECE & ISO automotive drive-by-noise test procedures.
• VXI measurements in parallel with VibControl: VibControl users can use both the vibration controller and the SO Analyzer in parallel on the same VXI chassis.
• Dynamic strain support for National Instrument cards: Acquisition set-ups of input channels now support the strain gage settings for the NI USB-9237 and the NI PCI/PXI 4220 cards (¼, ½ and full bridge selections, completion resistor settings, supply voltages and front-end low-pass filtering).

This update is of course free to all our customers with current maintenance contracts.

For more information, email us at sales.na@mpihome.com.

m+p international has been awarded a contract to upgrade two VibControl and SO Analyzer systems for vibration data acquisition and analysis applications at Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, currently using diskless computer technology.

The initial installation in 2003 proved that data acquisition and analysis could be performed on a system that is booted via the network with all test set-ups and results transmitted in encrypted form and saved on a secure remote central computer.

The upgrade includes the integration and functional operation of the EX2500 gigabit Ethernet slot-0 card and multiple VT1436 102.4kHz sampling, 24-bit digitizers of our measurement hardware partner, VXI Technology inc., with our VibControl and SO Analyzer software in Y-12's diskless environment. The EX2500 Ethernet card allowed to integrate the system directly to the secure network and increase the performance by easing the workload of the PC workstation.

This application fully benefits from the modular design of the used VXIbus platform: The VibControl vibration data acquisition software and the SO Analyzer software run in parallel on the VXI measuring front-end, thus saving money and space.

Please read how the customer assesses the project and which advantages he sees in diskless computer technology. The article was published in the October 2003 issue of the BWX TYMES Newsletter.

As you know the m+p international products rely on the excellent performance of the LXI instruments. Our SO Analyzer and VibControl software support the VXI Technology EX2500 gigabit Ethernet slot-0 card, allowing the user to install the front-end chassis near the signal sources (e.g. the shaker) with the convenience of the PC remaining in the control room. For sophisticated temperature measurements and strain gage measurements, our turnkey Coda software platform supports the powerful LXI-based EX1048 and EX1629 instruments made by VXI Technology.

So what is LXI?
LXI (LAN eXtensions for Instrumentation) is an instrumentation platform for test & measurement which combines the advantages of the industry-standard Ethernet technology with the simplicity and familiarity of GPIB. It was designed to provide modularity, flexibility and performance, commonplace on larger VXI systems, to small- and medium-sized systems. LXI reduces the time needed to set up, configure and debug test systems. Its compact, flexible package, high-speed I/O and reliable measurements meet the needs of R&D and manufacturing engineers delivering electronics for the aerospace/defense, automotive, industrial, medical, and consumer electronics markets.

Introduced in 2005, the LXI Standard has been rapidly adopted by the leading test and measurement companies as the LAN-based successor to GPIB. Annual sales of LXI-equipped test and measurement systems now exceeds $ 200 million (US) which represents the fastest ramp-up in sales of any communication standard in the history of the test industry.

For detailed information on LXI, please visit the website of the LXI Consortium that manages the LXI Standard. The LXI Consortium was founded by VXI Technology, our measurement hardware partner, and by Agilent Technologies and has almost 50 member companies now.

Again, we have found some websites that may be of interest to you or a colleague - don't keep them secret,
pass them around ...

http://www.efunda.com/home.cfm Maths, engineering data, mechanical engineering and other resources, a monster on-line reference book. A subscription is required but you get a free on-line trial - definitely worth a look.

http://www.nafems.org. If you are interested in engineering analysis and simulation, you should have a look at the NAFEMS website.

http://www.sandv.com/downloads/0101avit.pdf Experimental Modal Analysis - A Simple Non-Mathematical Presentation by Peter Avitabile in Sound & Vibration.

http://www.nist.gov Website of the US National Institute of Standards and Technology..

"To cease smoking is the easiest thing I ever did; I ought to know because I have done it a thousand times."
- Mark Twain .

Well, that brings to a close this edition of the m+p international Newsletter. If there are items of info you would like to see here or if you have useful tips for the rest of the environmental test world, then please send us your pointers and we'll include them in the next edition.

Please forward this Newsletter to your colleagues if you have found it of interest, spread the word...

With regards,
m+p international Marketing

m+p international listens to customers...

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