A residual gas analyzer (RGA) is a small and usually rugged mass spectrometer, typically designed for process control and contamination monitoring in the semiconductor industry. Utilizing quadrupole technology, there exists two implementations, utilizing either an open ion source (OIS) or a closed ion source (CIS). RGAs may be found in high vacuum applications such as research chambers, surface science setups, accelerators, scanning microscopes, etc. RGAs are used in most cases to monitor the quality of the vacuum and easily detect minute traces of impurities in the low-pressure gas environment. These impurities can be measured down to 10 − 14 Torr levels, possessing sub-ppm detectability in the absence of background interferences.
RGAs would also be used as sensitive in-situ, helium leak detectors. With vacuum systems pumped down to lower than 10 - 5Torr—checking of the integrity of the vacuum seals and the quality of the vacuum—air leaks, virtual leaks and other contaminants at low levels may be detected before a process is initiated.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Oxygen Sensor Analyzer
An oxygen sensor, or lambda sensor, is an electronic device that measures the proportion of oxygen (O2) in the gas or liquid being analyzed. It was developed by Robert Bosch GmbH during the late 1960s under supervision by Dr. Günter Bauman. The original sensing element is made with a thimble-shaped zirconia ceramic coated on both the exhaust and reference sides with a thin layer of platinum and comes in both heated and unheated forms. The planar-style sensor entered the market in 1998 (also pioneered by Robert Bosch GmbH) and significantly reduced the mass of the ceramic sensing element as well as incorporating the heater within the ceramic structure. This resulted in a sensor that both started operating sooner and responded faster. The most common application is to measure the exhaust gas concentration of oxygen for internal combustion engines in automobiles and other vehicles. Divers also use a similar device to measure the partial pressure of oxygen in their breathing gas.
Scientists use oxygen sensors to measure respiration or production of oxygen and use a different approach. Oxygen sensors are used in oxygen analyzers which find a lot of use in medical applications such as anesthesia monitors, respirators and oxygen concentrators.
There are many different ways of measuring oxygen and these include technologies such as zirconia, electrochemical (also known as Galvanic), infrared, ultrasonic and very recently laser. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Scientists use oxygen sensors to measure respiration or production of oxygen and use a different approach. Oxygen sensors are used in oxygen analyzers which find a lot of use in medical applications such as anesthesia monitors, respirators and oxygen concentrators.
There are many different ways of measuring oxygen and these include technologies such as zirconia, electrochemical (also known as Galvanic), infrared, ultrasonic and very recently laser. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Infrared Gas Analyzer
An infrared gas analyzer measures trace gases by determining the absorption of an emitted infrared light source through a certain air sample. Trace gases found in the earths atmosphere get excited under specific wavelengths found in the infrared range. The concept behind the technology can be understood when considering the greenhouse effect. When sunlight hits earths surface, the incoming short wave radiation gets turned into long wave radiation|long wave infrared radiation that is reflected back into space. If there is a thick atmosphere on covering the planet of interest, much of this radiation is absorbed by the "greenhouse gases" in our atmosphere which act as a type of insulative blanket. The infrared gas analyzer works using a similar principle.
Normally, the infrared gas analyzer has two chambers, one serves as a reference chamber while the other chamber serves as a measurement chamber. Infrared light is emitted from some type of source on one end of the chamber, passes through series of chambers that contain given quantities of various gases in question. For example, if the analyzer is designed to measure carbon monoxide and dioxide then these chambers must contain a certain amount of these gases. In the design from 1973 (pictured above), the infrared light is emitted from a source where it passes through the sample gas, a reference gas with a known mixture of the gases in question and then through the "detector" chambers containing the pure forms of the gases in question. When a "detector" chamber absorbs some of the infrared radiation, it heats up and expands. This causes a rise in pressure within the sealed vessel that can be detected either with a pressure transducer or with a similar device. The combination of output voltages from the detector chambers from the sample gas can then be compared to the output voltages from the reference chamber.
Normally, the infrared gas analyzer has two chambers, one serves as a reference chamber while the other chamber serves as a measurement chamber. Infrared light is emitted from some type of source on one end of the chamber, passes through series of chambers that contain given quantities of various gases in question. For example, if the analyzer is designed to measure carbon monoxide and dioxide then these chambers must contain a certain amount of these gases. In the design from 1973 (pictured above), the infrared light is emitted from a source where it passes through the sample gas, a reference gas with a known mixture of the gases in question and then through the "detector" chambers containing the pure forms of the gases in question. When a "detector" chamber absorbs some of the infrared radiation, it heats up and expands. This causes a rise in pressure within the sealed vessel that can be detected either with a pressure transducer or with a similar device. The combination of output voltages from the detector chambers from the sample gas can then be compared to the output voltages from the reference chamber.
Telecom Network Protocol Analyzer
Telecom Network Protocol Analyzer is a Protocol analyzer to analyze a switching and signaling telecommunication protocol between different nodes in PSTN or Mobile telephone networks, such as 2G or 3G GSM networks, CDMA networks, WiMAX and so on.
In a mobile telecommunication network it can analyze the traffic between MSC and BSC, BSC and BTS, MSC and HLR, MSC and VLR, VLR and HLR, and so on.
Protocol analyzers are mainly used for performance measurement and troubleshooting. These devices connect to the network to calculate key performance indicators (KPI) to monitor the network and speed-up troubleshooting activities.
In a mobile telecommunication network it can analyze the traffic between MSC and BSC, BSC and BTS, MSC and HLR, MSC and VLR, VLR and HLR, and so on.
Protocol analyzers are mainly used for performance measurement and troubleshooting. These devices connect to the network to calculate key performance indicators (KPI) to monitor the network and speed-up troubleshooting activities.
IP Load Tester
IP load testers are a class of protocol analyzers focused on the practical evaluation of router performance. Router performance is usually broken down into two categories: forwarding performance (or data plane), and routing performance (or control plane). In practice, the two functions are often evaluated simultaneously.
To test forwarding performance, IP load testers typically surround a router with simulated Internet traffic. This function is called "packet blasting", and frequently test engineers choose to a couple of different popular methods. The first method approximates real Internet traffic by using a representative mix of packet lengths, usually referred to as "Imix". Another popular technique is to blast the router with the shortest packet lengths possible, in order to stress the computational performance of the router. In both cases, the IP load tester measures the performance of the router in terms of loss, latency and throughput.
To test the control plane IP load testers typically emulate various protocols via the test ports in order to connect to the real implementations of those protocols on the router itself. For example, within the core of the Internet, various routing protocols are used for the control plane, or routing function of routers. Core routing protocols include BGP, IS-IS, OSPF, and RIP. Control plane performance is usually characterized by measurements of scalability and performance. Scalability typically means how many protocol sessions can be handled by the router at one time, and ultimately is a stress of memory. Performance usually refers to a time-varying parameter, such as sessions per second, and ultimately is a stress of CPU power.
To test forwarding performance, IP load testers typically surround a router with simulated Internet traffic. This function is called "packet blasting", and frequently test engineers choose to a couple of different popular methods. The first method approximates real Internet traffic by using a representative mix of packet lengths, usually referred to as "Imix". Another popular technique is to blast the router with the shortest packet lengths possible, in order to stress the computational performance of the router. In both cases, the IP load tester measures the performance of the router in terms of loss, latency and throughput.
To test the control plane IP load testers typically emulate various protocols via the test ports in order to connect to the real implementations of those protocols on the router itself. For example, within the core of the Internet, various routing protocols are used for the control plane, or routing function of routers. Core routing protocols include BGP, IS-IS, OSPF, and RIP. Control plane performance is usually characterized by measurements of scalability and performance. Scalability typically means how many protocol sessions can be handled by the router at one time, and ultimately is a stress of memory. Performance usually refers to a time-varying parameter, such as sessions per second, and ultimately is a stress of CPU power.
Packet Analyzer
A packet analyzer (also known as a network analyzer, protocol analyzer or sniffer, or for particular types of networks, an Ethernet sniffer or wireless sniffer) is computer software or computer hardware that can intercept and log traffic passing over a digital network or part of a network.[1] As data streams flow across the network, the sniffer captures each packet and eventually decodes and analyzes its content according to the appropriate RFC or other specifications.
Bus Analyzer
A bus analyzer is a computer bus analysis tool, often a combination of hardware and software, used during development of hardware or device drivers for a specific bus, for diagnosing bus or device failures, or reverse engineering.
A bus analyzer is a type of protocol analyzer, which is designed for use with certain specific parallel and serial bus architectures. It differs from packet analyzers which analyze traffic running across non-bus-based mediums such as Ethernet networks and wireless LANs or PANs.
The bus analyzer monitors the bus traffic and decodes and displays the data. It is essentially a logic analyzer with some additional knowledge of the underlying bus traffic characteristics.
Some key differentiator between bus and logic analyzers are:
1. Cost: Logic analyzers usually carry higher prices than bus analyzers. The converse of this fact is that a logic analyzer can be used with a variety of bus architectures, whereas a bus analyzer is only good with one architecture.
2. Targeted Capabilities and Preformatting of data: A bus analyzer can be designed to provide very specific context for data coming in from the bus. Analyzers for serial buses like USB for example take serial data that arrives as a serial stream of binary 1s and 0s and displays it as logical packets differentiated by chirp, headers, payload etc...
3. From a user's perspective, a (greatly) simplified viewpoint may be that developers who want the most complete and most targeted capabilities for a single bus architecture may be best served with a bus analyzer, while users who work with several protocols in parallel my be better served with a Logic Analyzer that is less costly than several different bus analyzers and enables them to learn a single user interface vs several.
Analyzers are now available for virtually all existing computer bus standards and form factors such as PCI, CompactPCI, PCI Express, PMC, USB, VMEbus, CANbus and LINbus, etc. Specialized bus analyzers are also used in the mass storage industry to analyze popular data transfer protocols between computers and drives. These cover popular data busses like SATA, SAS, ATA/PI, SCSI, etc. These devices are typically connected in series between the host computer and the target drive, where they 'snoop' traffic on the bus, capture it and present it in human-readable format.
PCI Express Bus Exerciser testing an add in card
For many bus architectures like PCI Express, PCI, SAS, SATA, USB and so on, Analyzers are often used in conjunction with a "Bus Exerciser", which actively engages the bus while the analyzer snoops it. Especially with these bus architectures (PCI and PCI-Express), manufacturers have bundled these functions together into a "Bus Analyzer/Exerciser" that resides on a single board or integrated set of boards. These devices make it possible to generate bad bus traffic as well as good so that the device error recovery systems can be tested. They are also often used to verify compliance with the standard to ensure interoperability of devices since they can reproduce known scenarios in a repeatable way.
A bus analyzer is a type of protocol analyzer, which is designed for use with certain specific parallel and serial bus architectures. It differs from packet analyzers which analyze traffic running across non-bus-based mediums such as Ethernet networks and wireless LANs or PANs.
The bus analyzer monitors the bus traffic and decodes and displays the data. It is essentially a logic analyzer with some additional knowledge of the underlying bus traffic characteristics.
Some key differentiator between bus and logic analyzers are:
1. Cost: Logic analyzers usually carry higher prices than bus analyzers. The converse of this fact is that a logic analyzer can be used with a variety of bus architectures, whereas a bus analyzer is only good with one architecture.
2. Targeted Capabilities and Preformatting of data: A bus analyzer can be designed to provide very specific context for data coming in from the bus. Analyzers for serial buses like USB for example take serial data that arrives as a serial stream of binary 1s and 0s and displays it as logical packets differentiated by chirp, headers, payload etc...
3. From a user's perspective, a (greatly) simplified viewpoint may be that developers who want the most complete and most targeted capabilities for a single bus architecture may be best served with a bus analyzer, while users who work with several protocols in parallel my be better served with a Logic Analyzer that is less costly than several different bus analyzers and enables them to learn a single user interface vs several.
Analyzers are now available for virtually all existing computer bus standards and form factors such as PCI, CompactPCI, PCI Express, PMC, USB, VMEbus, CANbus and LINbus, etc. Specialized bus analyzers are also used in the mass storage industry to analyze popular data transfer protocols between computers and drives. These cover popular data busses like SATA, SAS, ATA/PI, SCSI, etc. These devices are typically connected in series between the host computer and the target drive, where they 'snoop' traffic on the bus, capture it and present it in human-readable format.
PCI Express Bus Exerciser testing an add in card
For many bus architectures like PCI Express, PCI, SAS, SATA, USB and so on, Analyzers are often used in conjunction with a "Bus Exerciser", which actively engages the bus while the analyzer snoops it. Especially with these bus architectures (PCI and PCI-Express), manufacturers have bundled these functions together into a "Bus Analyzer/Exerciser" that resides on a single board or integrated set of boards. These devices make it possible to generate bad bus traffic as well as good so that the device error recovery systems can be tested. They are also often used to verify compliance with the standard to ensure interoperability of devices since they can reproduce known scenarios in a repeatable way.
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