RoadTest Keysight BenchVue

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About this RoadTest

Click. Capture. Control.

BenchVue software for the PC makes it simple to connect, record and achieve results across multiple instruments with no programming. BenchVue consists of different “apps” tailored to streamline your measurement tasks. Every download of BenchVue includes five essential core apps; Digital Multimeter, Function Generator, Oscilloscope, Power Supply, and BenchVue Test Flow. Test Flow enables you to create custom test sequences within the BenchVue environment. Additional apps can easily be downloaded from within BenchVue after it has been installed. Optional Pro upgrades are available to take you and your testing further. BenchVue software is enabled on hundreds of Keysight instruments.

 

Key Features / Specification:

  • Visualize multiple measurements simultaneously
  • Easily log data, screen shots and system state
  • Recall past state of your bench to replicate results
  • Rapidly prototype custom test sequences
  • Export measurement data in desired format fast
  • Quickly access manuals, drivers, FAQs and videos
  • Monitor and control bench from mobile devices

 

 

Each of the 10 selected Road Test applicants will receive:

  • BV0000A BenchVue Platform Software
  • BV1001A BenchVue Test Flow App
  • Up to 3 of the following BenchVue Pro Licenses:

BV0001A, BV0002A, BV0003A, BV0004A, BV0005A, BV0006A, BV0007A, BV0008A, BV0010A, BV0011A, BV1001A

 

Applicant Requirements:

  • Must have at least 2-3 Keysight instruments with GPIB, USB or LAN interface to be able to evaluate BenchVue.
    • Keysight instruments must be on supported instruments list from:
    • Successful applicants will be provided BenchVue Pro licenses for the instruments they have listed in their submittal.
    • Requirement:  They tell us what instruments they have and will be involved in the evaluation. 
  • Criteria, expectations, capabilities the user would need to be able to evaluate this aspect:
    • Application capability
      • Using a variety of instruments, provide feedback on the different instrument applications, and how useful the software is (or not) in their bench environment.
      • Usage in real test scenarios with data/screen captures is preferred.
    • Automation capability
      • Evaluate Keysight’s BenchVue software in terms of ease of use, capability, feature set, and what you would like to see. Compare to how you would do it with other tools or without BenchVue.
      • Using a variety of instruments, provide feedback on the different instrument applications, and how useful the software is (or not) in their bench environment.
        • Usage in real test scenarios with data/screen captures is preferred.
        • Automated tests using the BenchVue Test Flow application for custom test procedures.
        • Test variety will be taken into consideration.

 

 

 

{gallery} BenchVue

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The RoadTesters

Congratulations to the following members that we have selected to RoadTest and receive the Keysight Technologies BenchVue:

 

Terms and Conditions

 

Keysight – BenchVue - RoadTest

Terms and Conditions

These are the terms and conditions which govern the Keysight – BenchVue RoadTest contest. This Contest requires participants to submit an application indicating their previous experience with this type of equipment/component, information on what they would do to test the equipment/component, and the applicant’s desire to post a thorough review of their experience with images, photos, or other supplemental materials. Participants will be required to meet the Conditions for Participation.  The winners of this RoadTest will receive the item(s) listed below. RoadTest Reviews are due no later than 60 days after the receipt of the item(s). No other prizes are offered.

The Principal terms of the Competition:

The following words and phrases are used in these terms and conditions and have the meanings given to them below.

RoadTest: Keysight BenchVue RoadTest (or Contest)

Key dates:

Applications Close: midnight (GMT) on 14 October 2016

Announcement of Winner (estimated): 4 November 2016

PrizeKeysight – BenchVue

BV0000A BenchVue Platform Software

BV1001A BenchVue Test Flow App

Up to 3 of the following BenchVue Pro Licenses:

BV0001A, BV0002A, BV0003A, BV0004A, BV0005A, BV0006A, BV0007A, BV0008A, BV0010A, BV0011A, BV1001A

Additional Prizes: none

Competition Site: RoadTests & Reviews

Site or element14 Community: www.element14.com/community

Judges: members of the element14 community team chosen at the Organiser’s discretion.

Judging Criteria, All of the following which will have equal weighting:

· Demonstrated competence with the technologies including links or descriptions of past projects

· Qualifications as indicated by current job role and/or schooling/vocational training;

· A thorough description of how the prize would be tested;

· Likelihood that the Applicant will blog about the prize and provide a review on element14.com;

· Originality;

· Innovation.

Organiser: Premier Farnell plc (registered in England and Wales under company number 876412) whose registered office is at Farnell House, Forge Lane, Leeds, UK

Conditions for Qualification: in addition to meeting the requirements of these terms, all persons applying to take part in the Contest (each one an Applicant) must:

· Provide a RoadTest application describing what he/she would do if awarded the Prize including similar previous projects, product experience and qualifications

Terms: these terms and conditions which govern the Competition and to which the Organiser reserves the right to make changes from time to time and the latest version of these Terms from time to time will be posted to the Site.

  1. Eligibility
  2. Applications:
  3. Selecting Winners:   
  4. Liability:
  5. General:

1.1 Save as set out in these Terms, the Contest is open to any natural or legal person, firm or company or group of natural persons or unincorporated body.

1.2 All Applicants must be aged at least 18 at the time of their application.

1.3 Applicants must not enter the RoadTest if doing so or taking part may:

1.3.1 cause the Organiser and/or themselves to be in breach of any agreement (including but not limited to any contract of employment) to which they are a party or in breach of any law, regulation or rule having the force of law to which the Organiser or the Applicant may be subject or any policy of the Organiser or the Sponsor;

1.3.2 Require the Organiser to obtain any licence, authorisation or permission to deal with the Applicant; or

1.3.3 Be in breach of any policy or practice of their employer. Some employers prohibit or restrict their employees from taking part in competitions such as these or receiving prizes under them and the Organiser respects those policies and practices.

The Organiser reserves the right to disqualify any Application made in breach of these Terms and to reject any Application which it reasonably believes may be or become in breach. The Organiser reserves the right to require evidence in such form as the Organiser may reasonably require of any Applicant’s compliance with any of these Terms and to disqualify any Applicant or Participant who cannot provide such evidence reasonably promptly. 

1.4 Multiple applications are not permitted.

1.5 Applications may not be submitted by an agent whether acting on behalf of an undisclosed principal or otherwise.

1.6 The Contest is NOT open to:

1.6.1 Any person or entity who is a resident or national of any country which is subject to sanctions, embargoes or national trade restrictions of the United States of America, the European Union or the United Kingdom;

1.6.2 Any employee, director, member, shareholder (as appropriate) or any of their direct families (parents, siblings, spouse, partner, children) (“Direct Families”) of the Organiser and Sponsors; or

2.1 Each Applicant must fully complete and submit a RoadTest Application by the Application Close.

2.2 By submitting a Registration Form, each Applicant:

2.2.1 Authorises the Organiser to use his or her personal data (as defined in the Data Protection Act 1998) for the purposes of running and promoting the RoadTest;

2.2.2 Authorises the Organizer to copy, reproduce and publish their application should they be accepted as a Participant;

2.2.3 Will be deemed to have read, accepted and agree to be bound by these Terms. Applicants are advised to print and keep safe these Terms;

2.2.4 Authorises the Organiser to copy, reproduce and use the Application and/or Review for the purposes of the RoadTest and as otherwise contemplated by these Terms. The Organiser will not be responsible for any inaccuracy, error or omission contained in any reproduction or use of the Project Blogs.

2.2.5 Licenses the Organiser to use the intellectual property in the Project (IP) for the purposes of this Contest. As between the Applicant and the Organiser the IP remains owned by the Applicant.

2.2.6 Grants the Organiser the right to use his or her likeness, photographs, logos, trademarks, audio or video recordings without restriction for the purposes of Contest or the promotion of it or the Site;

2.2.7 Agrees to participate positively in all publicity surrounding the Contest;

2.2.8 Agrees to be responsible for all expenses and costs incurred by him or her in preparing for, entering and participating in the Contest (save for any expenses expressly agreed by the Organiser to be borne by it in these Terms);

2.2.9 Confirms that he or she owns all IP used in his or her application or Project or Blogs and indemnifies the Organiser from any claim by a third party that use of any material provided by an Applicant to the Organiser infringes the intellectual property rights of any third party;

2.2.10 Agrees not to act in any way or fail to act in any way or be associated with any cause or group which would have a negative impact on the reputation of the Organiser and/or the RoadTest.

2.3 All applications submitted to this RoadTest must meet the following criteria:

2.3.1 Applicants must be the author, creator and owner of the proposed review idea. Applicants must not submit someone else’s idea;

2.3.2 The proposed application must be reasonably achievable by the within the time constraints of the Contest; 

2.3.3 Applications must not include or propose any of the following, the inclusion of which shall render any proposed application ineligible:

(a) Applications which relate to socially taboo topics, such as illicit drug use or sexual gratification;

(b) Applications that are or could reasonably be considered to be illegal, immoral, discriminatory or offensive as determined by the Organiser;

(c) Applications in relation to them which if accepted would infringe or breach any of the policies or terms of access or use of the Site.

2.4 No Application may contain any of the hazardous substances identified by Article 4 of Directive 2002/95/EC of the European Parliament on the Restrictions on the Use of Substances in Electronic and Electrical Equipment ("the Directive") or the use of such hazardous substances in the in any such Project must not exceed the maximum concentration values set out in the Directive.

3.1 Winners will be selected by the Organiser on the basis of the quality of his or her application and its adherence to these Terms.

3.2 The total number of Winners selected will be at least the minimum number set out above but the actual number is at the sole discretion of the Organizer and/or the Sponsor, if applicable.

3.3 The Organiser will use all reasonable efforts to announce the Winners via an update to the RoadTest page by the date listed above.

3.4 Winners agree to take part in all publicity which the Organiser or the Sponsor wishes to use to promote the RoadTest, the Products featured or other Contests with which the Organiser may be connected from time to time.

3.5 Details of the Winners may also be published in the media.

3.6 Winners are responsible for all applicable taxes, duties or other charges payable in relation to any prize.

3.7 

4.1 The Organiser hereby excludes all and any Liability arising out of the Contest or the acceptance, use, quality, condition, suitability or performance of any Prize, even where that Liability may arise from the Organiser’s negligence.

4.2 Nothing in these Terms will affect any Liability of the Organiser for death or personal injury arising from its negligence, for breach of Part II of the Consumer Protection Act 1987 (in the event that any entrant is entitled to claim rights under the Consumer Protection Act 1987) or for any matter in relation to which it would be illegal for the Organiser to exclude or to attempt to exclude its Liability.

4.3 Subject to 4.2, neither the Organiser, any parent company nor any subsidiary of the Organiser or such parent company or any of their directors, officers and employees (together referred to in these terms and the ‘Associates’) makes any guarantee, warranty or representation of any kind, express or implied, with respect to this Competition or the Prizes potentially available under it. Neither the Organiser nor any of its Associates shall be responsible for any Liability that may arise out of or in connection with person’s participation in this Competition, the claiming, redemption or value of any prizes under it, the use or enjoyment of such prizes or any events or circumstances arising out of or in connection with any of them. Any implied warranties of condition, merchantability or suitability or fitness for purpose of any of them are hereby expressly excluded. Wherever used in these Terms, ‘Liability’ shall mean any and all costs, expenses, claims, damages, actions, proceedings, demands, losses and other liabilities (including legal fees and costs on a full indemnity basis) arising directly or indirectly out of or in connection with the matter concerned. 

5.1 The RoadTest is organised and sponsored by the Organiser. The Organiser reserves the right to delegate all or any of its powers, rights and obligations arising in relation to the RoadTest to any Associate and certain such rights and powers are assumed by the Organiser on behalf of itself and each Associate. Reference to “Organiser” shall be deemed to include reference to each Associate.

5.2 The RoadTest may be terminated at any time if there are, in the sole opinion of the Organiser, an insufficient number of entries, or if the Applications are not of an appropriate standard for a competition of this nature. The Organiser has the right to cancel or suspend the RoadTest at any time due to circumstances outside its reasonable control.

5.3 The Organiser shall have the sole discretion to disqualify (without correspondence or right of appeal) any Applicant it considers to be adversely affecting the process or the operation of the RoadTest or to be in breach of these Terms or to be acting in a disruptive manner or with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any other Applicant or Participant.

5.4 The Organiser has the right to amend or add to these Terms from time to time. Revised Terms and Conditions will be posted on the Contest Site and it is a condition of entry to the RoadTest that Applicants agree to comply with these Terms and, if appropriate, such Terms as amended from time to time.

5.5 Headings are for convenience only and do not affect the interpretation or construction of these Terms and Conditions.

5.6 These Terms and the operation of the Contest shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English Law and any claim or matter arising under these Terms shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.

Comment List
Anonymous
  • Thx to Both MK & GL. Great short/concise write-up about the various "Instrumentation "Bus(es)"" Thx also for confirming that this GPIB was my "mother's" GPIB. I did  do a Google on "TM500" the Tektronix GPIB implementation (there was No Wiki entry). AAR the GPIB was/is a electronic disaster waiting to Happen. ex: pin 11A "Base Lead of PNP Series Pass..." I guess this was about when TI's TTL series 74## IC's were being introduced. And B/f Tri-State Buffer IC's. Nowadays, not many would know that pin11A was referring to the Base connection to a Transistor, possibly controlling flow from E (emitter) to C (collector). So 1970's But that was the technology then.  But you gotta Admit the TM500 series Cabinets/Instruments looked "Sexy"

    USCDADNYC (NY NY USA)

  • The short of it from my perspective would be:

    • GPIB is mainly for legacy users who still have infrastructure they'd like to use or integrate with. GPIB uses relatively hardy connectors and cables, and handles tough environments well. It has better latency and synchronization features compared to the other connectivity methods, so where those characteristics are needed, then GPIB is favoured. Bandwidth is only about 1MB/s at most, through to 8MB/s for high speed GPIB. Formerly, it was known as HP-IB and yes, is the same GPIB from ages back.
    • USB is low-cost and easy to use for host-to-device connection. Theoretically, a USB low-speed device can provide 1.5Mbit/s, a full-speed device (USB 1.1) 12Mbit/s, a high-speed device (USB 2.0) 480Mbit/s, a super-speed device (USB 3.0) 5Gbit/s and (USB 3.1) 10Gbit/s. Due to bus overhead and shared bandwidth, actually achievable rates are roughly half the implied raw bitrate. USB TMC allows for running IEEE 488 over USB, and VISA layers can make the method of connectivity transparent to the end application. Devices such as the Tektronix RSA306 use USB 3.0 to send 224MiB/s of data over the bus for spectrum analyzer functionality in software, which would be impossible via GPIB or LAN today, so bandwidth can be excellent. Latency is slightly higher than GPIB, and synchronization slightly less accurate because everything is point-to-point. Connectors are a less robust and connectivity can be less reliable as it's very much a commodity consumer-grade bus with potential incompatibilities or issues at hubs etc. Connectivity is 5m from point to point, up to 25m or so through multiple hubs but can be a nightmare.
    • LAN is a more recent connectivity which uses Ethernet to carry the data. This method is nice because twisted pair cabling is cheap, and networks may already exist where deployment is to be made. Sharing devices can be easier with no cabling changes needed, and remote control capabilities are basically "built in" because you can run the data over VPNs etc. Unfortunately, it's more complex and finnicky to set up, and bandwidths depend on the connectivity (10Mbit/s, 100Mbit/s 1Gbit/s is common, half or full duplex) as well as the processing ability of the end device. Timeliness can be affected by competing network traffic, so latency and jitter can be a problem and synchronization is difficult. Furthermore, network security could become an issue. Networks can span 100m per run in most cases, allowing more distance, but can be virtually unlimited through multiple switches.

     

    It seems that in many cases, USB and LAN/LXI is the preferred combination. The Keysight Technologies E36103A that I reviewed has USB 2.0 and LAN only, for example. The reason would be that the GPIB equipment is physically bulky due to the large connection and can be a costly addition to the manufacturer. There are some other multimeters (e.g. Keithley Model 2110) that come in non-GPIB and GPIB variants with a significant price difference, whereas others make them "end user upgradable modules". However, in all, USB seems to be built in, and LAN may be offered optionally or as standard.

     

    The shame was that I wrote most of this just as my browser crashed, so I had to write it again - but next time, perhaps you could try doing a little research.

     

    - Gough

  • Simple - LAN, which is Ethernet, low cost 100m or more at 1Gb, USB3 can go faster (in theory) but only a couple of metres.

     

    I have  a multi-port switch in my lab with everything connected that can, so any of maybe 6 PCs can access any instrument at any time.

     

    If you need higher speed 10Gb Ethernet is affordable but few (if any) standard lab instruments use it.

     

    GPIB has no future other than as legacy support, short range very expensive cables and low speed, no one would design a new instrument with only GPIB although there is such a huge population of stuff out there which has it (including all those immortal HP boxes) that GPIB support will be available for the foreseeable future.

     

    MK

  • Sorry to "leach" off you guys for Info. But here goes. The Keysight Blurb mentions compatibility w/ Bus(es) like GPIO, USB, or LAN. Which one (mentioned) has larger market-share? Highest-Bandwidth?, (put on your Fortune-Teller mantra) Future Market-penetration? I remember using GPIB in Tektronix TM500 series back in the 1970's. Is this the same GPIB? I guess I can do a "wiki" on all this, but you guys are very knowledgeable and HONEST. Thx.

    USCDADNYC (NY NY USA)

  • So far only two applicants  - I guess that the requirement for instrument ownership is a bit of  a limiting factor - so that must say something about the typical E14 RoadTester - and that keen-ness on the subject and access to HpAgilentKeysight (HAK) test gear are not correlated.

     

    I'm one of the two but I just scrape in with three valid instruments.

     

    MK

  • What a shame - only the E36103A I previously RoadTested is compatible with BenchVue. But I suppose that's okay - since I gave a brief overview of the software operating under trial. So I suppose someone who's been an HP/Agilent/Keysight-loyal lab might be able to benefit from this one image.

     

    - Gough

  • I agree, I have none of those instruments, so I would have no way to evaluate the gear.

     

    Now if Keysight would loan out some gear, I could give a good honest impression based upon my extensive testing background.

     

    Oh well, I hope some good current testers show up for this, it should be very interesting to see what kind of test automation they can perform.

     

    DAB

  • I have updated with the requirements that make the most sense for this RoadTest.

  • Have to agree, I would love to test it but without a bench meter, Power Supply or some other test equipment i will have to put this roadtest aside.