Synthetic Instrumentation No Longer A Test Case.

The article discusses the role and advantages of synthetic instrumentation (SI) system. SI uses a collection of basic hardware and building blocks in a flexible, open and modular architecture to combine the stimulus and measurement functions needed by a given test application. It explains the transition of virtual instruments (VI), built-in software executed on a personal computer (PC) or laptop and which were invented by National Instruments Corp., to SI. The features of synthetic instruments from Aeroflex, Agilent Technologies Inc., National Instruments and Phase Matrix Inc. are also highlighted.