Application: Backplane Testing

Shelves and backplanes for telecommunications have become increasingly complex, with node counts of 30,000 to 40,000 and up in the latest generations of normal-sized card cages. With this degree of interconnection density, it's not surprising to find that manufacturing defects can arise, even with dedicated attention paid to manufacturing processes.

Consider this: If the number of nodes in products being manufactured double in count over previous generations, the defect rate - in parts per million (nodes) - must be cut in half if the overall dropout rate is to remain constant. With connectors getting denser and slot-to-slot board pitch becoming smaller, process improvement has become an increasingly major challenge.

Thorough testing is a critical process step. Defects, including shorts and opens, passed down the line have become increasingly expensive and difficult to resolve. The challenge for the test engineer is to devise a test arrangement that can make contact with each and every node, and then verify continuity and isolation.

Products suitable for cable testing applications:

The Omni8300BT provides fast and accurate low voltage testing of a wide variety of products including cables, harnesses, backplanes and equipment racks.

The Omni8300LV is OmniTester's workhorse solution for testing backplanes and card cages.