Connecting Your Test System with the Schematic Design Tool
Connecting Your Test System with the Schematic Design Tool 
In the second video of this series, the configured PXI chassis created in Part One is expanded by adding a rack-mount power supply and a DUT fixture adapter. These components are then connected together using the Schematic Design Tool within Pickering Test System Architect.
The process begins by modeling the rack-mount power supply (PSU) in the custom product library. The PSU contains three channels, each with a positive and negative output, so a six-pin schematic device is created. A new front panel is then opened, the PSU image is imported and resized, and the connector—an 8-pin power D-type output—is added. The connector pins are cross-referenced to the schematic channel names, the model is saved to the custom library, and the unit is imported into the existing system configuration.
Next, the DUT fixture adapter connectors are modeled to enable later cable development. The power connector is created first and added to the library. In the same way, RF and low-frequency (LF) connectors are modeled and then added to the system configuration.
To simplify schematic and cable development, the system is divided into three subsystems corresponding to the DUT connectors: Power, RF, and Low Frequency. The power components are selected and grouped to create the power subsystem, and the same process is repeated for the RF and LF subsystems.
Within the power subsystem, selecting Create Schematic Design automatically opens the schematic design tool with the relevant components already displayed. Using the Link Pins function, the three PSU positive outputs are connected to the multiplexer commons, while the negative outputs are connected to the fourth common. All multiplexer channels are then connected to the DUT power connector. These connections are greatly simplified using the Auto Link function, which automatically links consecutive pins in a single step.
After completing the power interconnections, the same process is applied to the RF subsystem by importing the components and connecting them graphically within the schematic tool.
Finally, the low-frequency subsystem is configured. The matrix initially appears with pins 50 to 128 graphically condensed. These pins are expanded and the matrix is divided into two 64-pin sections corresponding to the two BRIC front-panel connectors. One connector is then used for instrumentation while the other is used for DUT connections, simplifying the final cabling layout. The required connections are made using the Auto Link function to streamline the process.
At this stage, the schematic interconnections for all three subsystems are complete. In Part Three of the series, all corresponding cable designs are automatically generated using the Cable Design Tool.
To learn more, visit PickeringTest.com/TSA .
