Developments over the years resulted in miniature sensors that were capable of offering high levels of technology and the ability to be used in extreme environmental conditions. The debut of the Universal Serial Bus – USB – in the 1990s, however, turned out to be a game changer which would revolutionise advancements in the test and measurement industry, writes Nick Tolley from FUTEK, Advanced Sensor Technology.
Stealth technology, DNA sequencing, mobile communication… The 1980s was an amazing decade in technical innovation; and with Windows 2.0 ready to harness all twelve blistering megahertz of the marvellous Intel 80286 processor, could the tide of technology do anything but rise?
Meanwhile, in the world of force measurement, it seemed sensor engineers had little interest in the exploration of uncharted waters and preferred to be securely anchored to the past. Most load sensor designs of this era showed little variation from past generations, often going decades without significant modification.
This stagnancy largely resulted from the increased reliance of sensor manufacturers on sales of their ‘direct fit products’. Direct fit refers to when sensors are designed with dimensions that are identical to a predecessor or competing product so that this ‘newly designed’ sensor can fit directly into an existing fixture, test jig, or machine. Recycling at best and plagiarism at worst, such sensors held the modest aspiration of someday putting one of their forbearers out of work. This apathetic design motif somehow lulled itself into persistence, manifested as parody among the product portfolios of the competing sensor manufacturers.
A new breed of sensors
As distinctions among load sensors of the 1980s had dwindled to little more than nomenclature and colour, increasing amounts of energy was focused on how performance specifications were expressed (aka specmanship). Although customers were hungry for the ability to tackle new testing applications, the industry had now become fully invested in what customers viewed as an arms race of technical abstraction.
At the time, a small California startup was formed with the ambition of confronting this predicament head on. Rather than assimilate into an industry obsessed with chasing asymptotes, FUTEK, Advanced Sensor Technology set out to create a new breed of sensors with features and form factors that would afford customers previously unrealised testing capabilities.
In 1988 the company officially introduced itself to the world of test and measurement and would roll out a variety of new sensor designs that were as daring as they were practical. Some product families were created by hybridising traits from successful sensors already on the market, while others appeared tangential to anything seen before. An array of new geometric and functional permutations were born: miniaturisation reached impossibly small dimensions; multiple force and torque vectors could be simultaneously measured; physical and electrical connection options flourished; and extreme environmental conditionals became habitable. Before long, the product portfolio had gained notice from both customers and competitors.
Introducing the Universal Serial Bus
By the mid 1990s, FUTEK and the Information Age had both hit full stride and this period was conspicuously punctuated by the debut of the Universal Serial Bus. Although the eventual ubiquity of the USB would cause an undeniable sea change in computer connectivity, few knew this elegant little connection would also catalyse a revolutionary advancement in test and measurement.
A think tank at FUTEK posited that proper use of a USB connection could allow a strain-gauge based load sensor to act as a direct computer peripheral. This notion was based on a somewhat subtle feature of the USB port: its integrated power supply. Coincidentally, the standard 5DC Volts supplied by a USB port was particularly well suited to apply excitation to the strain gauge within a load sensor. Theoretically, a USB connection module about the size of a typical USB flash memory stick could house a printed circuit board containing an analogue to digital converter, signal conditioner, and memory chip emulating the capabilities of existing digital ADC instrumentation. If this module were to be mounted on the end of a load sensor cable, it could be plugged directly into the USB port of a PC like a memory stick; combining this module with the computational power of the PC would then eliminate the need for an external digital display.
Initial prototyping proved the technical feasibility of this supposed USB connection module. Excitement grew with subsequent design iterations as there were indications this new product promised to contest the performance of instrumentation sold at multiples of its prospective price point. With internal momentum building, the imminent release of the FUTEK USB platform made it clear that the development of a powerful software platform to accompany this product should come next and soon.
Obviously, since the operator would only interact with test data via a PC, the user experience with the USB measurement platform would be almost entirely contingent upon the software. Eager to meet this challenge, the software team envisioned a simple graphical user interface that could access a complete testing suite: a virtual digital display, data logger, and graph and test report generator. Because of the depth
of the company’s product catalogue, this system would need to serve a multitude of applications, melding flexibility and power. In addition, since ease of use was to be sacrosanct, plug-n-play sensor technology and an intuitive user interface were absolute prerequisites.
USB benefits for test and measurement
Often when a cutting edge technology is introduced to the public, customers will show some scepticism while they acclimate themselves to the new concept. The launch of the FUTEK USB connection modules and SENSIT Test and Measurement Software suite proved this is not always true; since customers had already embraced the USB as a connection protocol, its implication into test and measurement was greeted as a welcomed step forward.
The popularity and acclaim of this new technology was almost instantaneous and the USB product family quickly became a design foundation for the company’s instrumentation. All subsequent FUTEK display instruments – even conventional handheld and benchtop digital displays – would include standard USB connectivity and feature direct compatibility with the SENSIT Software.
As customers quickly forgot about RS-232, RS-422 and RS-485 connections, it became clear that the USB platform was a real game changer.
FUTEK Advanced Sensor Technology
