Michael Lu
When you walk into a car dealer’s showroom, it’s hard not to be impressed by the new cars, spotless and gleaming under flattering lights. Yet no amount of fancy showmanship substitutes for the experience of sitting behind the wheel and driving the car yourself. Only then will you feel comfortable making a purchasing decision.
TI’s high-speed signal conditioning products are in some ways just like new cars. Our high-speed redrivers and retimers offer advanced signal conditioning and support for many standard protocols. Many of these products require SMBus communication to unlock the full potential of the device’s performance controls. But without a graphical user interface (GUI) to evaluate integrated circuit (IC) functionality, the first impression of TI’s high-speed conditioning products may feel like being in a car showroom where the dealer can’t find the keys for a test drive.
SigCon Architect is an easy-to-use software interface that can control TI’s high-speed signal conditioning products. This LabVIEW-based GUI features several levels of pages for each device that allow efficient IC evaluation and testing.
SigCon Architect can control many high-speed signal conditioning devices and is available for download on TI.com. The software is free and installs on Windows 7 platforms. The required supporting software (LabVIEW Run-Time Engine, USB2ANY firmware and Python) is self-contained in the installer.
To use SigCon Architect with TI redrivers and retimers, connect either a DPS-DONGLE-EVM or USB2ANY dongle [i] (please see the SigCon Architect Installation and Starter’s Guide, page 14, for more information) to your PC, and use jumper wires to connect the SDA, SCL and GND pins to the IC pins, as shown in Figure 6, Figure 7 and Figure 8.
With SigCon Architect, getting started with TI’s high-speed signal conditioning products has never been easier. The software enables you to configure TI devices in real time, thereby improving device optimization and expediting overall system bring-up. The keys are here. Why not give a few of our devices a test drive?
[i] Contact your local TI sales representative to get more information or to purchase these dongles.
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