T
headaptive test platform from
Finnishequipmentmanufacturer
PKCElectronicsheraldsanewera
in the testingofelectronicdevices,
whichuntil nowwasmostlystill carried
outmanually. Asmobiledevicessuchas
smartphones, tablet PCsor navigationde-
viceswith their touchdisplaysandsophis-
ticatedaudioor video functionsbecome
moreandmore complex, so toodoes the
taskof thoroughly testing them. Theuser
interfaceperformance tests, touchscreen
swipe tests, operationof thekeysand
switcheson thesidesof themobiledevices
and thespeaker andmicrophone tests
requireextensiveandquality-assured test
procedures. The rapidexpansionof the
smartphoneand tablet PCmarket isalso
set to further heighten thedemand for
reliable testdevices. In2013alone, 1.4bil-
lionsmartphoneswere inuseworldwide.
Thenumberof tablet computersgrew from
17million in2010 to195million last year.
Demand calls for automation
“Today, it is important for us tobeable to
offer turnkey test deviceswhereall you
have todo isquickly change theadapter
for thedifferent terminal formatsand
retrieve the right software for the test rou-
tineatmoreor less the touchof abutton”,
explainsKimmoHyrynkangas,TestSolution
BusinessAreaManager at PKCElectronics
in Finland. “Manyendusersneed to
change theadaptersandassociatedpro-
grams twiceadayonaverage”, continues
Hyrynkangas.
“With theChameleonbrandname, PKC
Electronicshasdevelopedexactly theflex-
ible test devicewe require”, statesMarko
Anttila,OperationManager at Elektrobit.
Elektrobit isa Finnishmanufacturer ofmo-
biledevicesand infotainment systems for
vehicles. “Equippedwith the correspond-
ingadapters, thesolutionallowseven
small andmedium-sizedseries consisting
of 10,000 to100,000units tobe tested
quicklyand reliably”, headds.
Highlyflexiblesolution
Thehigh level offlexibilityandadaptability
of the test deviceenables customers to
respond to thewidevarietyandever
decreasingproduct life cyclesofmobile
devices. Development timesareshorten-
ingall the time. Extensive testsnowhave
tobe carriedout asearlyas thedevelop-
ment phase. Ideally, the test systems
shouldbeable tobeused inboth the
development phaseandduringseries
production. End customersalsoneed to
integratemultiple test functions inasin-
gle test phase inorder toguarantee fast
throughput involumeproduction. These
(A)Approachesanypositionwithin
itsworkingspace:
themini planar
surfacegantryEXCM.
(B)Highlyautomated:
theonly task
performedmanually ispositioningof
themobiledevices.
(A)
(B)
