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Automated probing lets you control the variables.
March, 2013
Fiber Optic Network at Sandia Continued from page 6
tists and engineers and test labs. For the analyses we get, the problems are not small and they’re not easy.” Since its first experience with
fiber optics, Sandia envisioned being able to use multiple wavelengths in a very high bandwidth single strand reaching the farthest tech areas. But decades ago, when Sandia began put- ting in single-mode fiber to desks and adding underground fiber capabili- ties, the technology wasn’t quite ma- ture enough to take advantage of fiber optics’ inherent multiple wave- lengths and speeds. So Sandia continued to install
The Huntron Access DH Prober is designed with your test and measurement needs in mind.
Te Access DH dual head Prober lets you control variables such as dexterity, high density, tight lead spacing and speed with precise, fast and repeatable guided probing.
Applications Examples - - Huntron Power-off ASA - Precision Mechanical Applications - Boundary Scan - Point-to-point Measurements
- Guided Probe Measurements - Image Capture and Comparison - Stimulus/Response Measurements - Multiple Probe Arrays
the fiber optics cable foundation and waited as the technology developed, and moved quickly when commercial optical networks began deploying voice, data and video to large collec- tions of homes and offices. “There weren’t that many un-
knowns for us because we had been thinking about ways to do this on a large scale for quite a while,” Gos- sage said. “We had already thought through what this might mean to us, what it might mean to our lifecycle costs and where the investments would be, and we were already pret- ty comfortable with fiber and the technologies that go with it.”
Copper vs Fiber Buildings with conventional
copper LANs have separate networks for phones, computers, wireless, se- curity and so on. Fiber optics puts everything in a single network cable. That eliminates a large number of power-consuming switches and routers and makes the network sim- pler to operate and cheaper to install. Since it requires less space, energy and maintenance costs go down. “As we research and deploy new
Access DH shown above with standard spring probes mounted to the Z axis heads Adaptable by Design
Te ability to customize the Access DH probe head assemblies combined with software created using the Huntron Workstation SDK, Hardware SDK or Remote Control provides many integration and customization opportunities. Te probe head design includes pre-wired interconnections for adding built-in USB, Firewire or Ethernet instrumentation at the head.
Built-in interface connections on Z head
Test Automation
As the density and complexity of circuit boards has increased, the need to accurately place a probe on a test point has grown. Huntron recognized this issue early on and released its first robotic test platform in 1991. Our Access Probers have matured over the years with increased accuracy and the ability to be customized based on your test and measurement needs.
technologies, our main objectives are to enable the labs’ mission, decrease life-cycle costs and if possible reduce our footprint on the environment. With the deployment of passive optical networks we have been able to meet and exceed all of these objectives,” said Sandia manager Jeremy Banks. Where a conventional LAN serving 900 customers requires a space the size of three double ovens, an optical network serving 8,000 requires a mi- crowave oven-sized space. Where cop- per cable required Sandia to maintain and manage 600 separate switches in the field, optical LAN allows it to oper- ate a data center in one building and simple, standard ports to offices. Be- cause fiber optics reaches beyond the 100-meter radius that once was the standard from a wiring closet to a desktop, remote areas such as the Na- tional Solar Thermal Test Facility have high-speed communications for the first time. The only copper wire for most of
Custom multi-probe assembly mounted on the Access DH Z head
To get more details on what you can do with the Huntron Access DH, call or click, 800-426-9265 or
www.huntron.com.
Sandia today is a short connection from the wall to the desktop. Every- thing behind the wall is fiber. Moving away from copper wasn’t easy. It re- quired new technology for the core communication system and made San- dia its own network provider, Gossage said. He credited a central team of about 10 people across Sandia who worked together every day throughout 2011, plus sub-teams totaling about 40 people. The effort included engineer- ing design, information technology, network systems, computing, facili- ties, security and people in the field pulling cable and connecting ports.
Still to Come Sandia is recycling copper as it’s
replaced, which keeps tons of valu- able material out of a landfill. The es- timated $80,000 for the recycled cop- per will offset some of the fiber optics cost. The labs also must turn off hun- dreds of switches before it can fully realize the energy savings. That will take longer because it depends on such things as staffing, Gossage said. More change could be coming. A
small trial is under way for voice- over-fiber — putting data and voice in one system rather than the two that Sandia uses today. Testing shows that Sandia can protect voice running through a congested circuit — what Gossage calls “a Mother’s Day test,” when everyone calls at the same time. The Gigabit Passive Opti- cal Network standard Sandia works with can dedicate part of the band- width and give priority to selected traffic such as voice. So calls would go through even with heavy competi- tion from data. Sandia also is working with a
small number of researchers who need more bandwidth than they’re getting. The labs’ needs are ahead of the market but it’s pushing for next- generation increases in speed, Gos- sage said.
Communication speed improves
every five to eight years. With cop- per, each improvement required re- placing large, heavy bundles of jack- eted cable to re-engineer them to per- form at the new speed, he said. Fiber optical cable offers a bandwidth that will be good for 25 years or more. “We change the wavelength, we
change the modulation rate, we don’t get back in the ceiling, we don’t get back in the customer’s office,” Gossage said. “So our return on investment, our capital investment, our opera- tional investment, the impact on our customers — everything gets better.” Web:
www.sandia.gov r
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