Instrumentation VI: What´s new in test gear: The shopping list of versatile, compact, and cost-efficient instruments is an engineer´s delight

Two trends can be seen in test and measurement instruments. The first is the movement toward instrument clusters-mini instrument systems-and away from the individual instrument of the past. These instrument systems are either hooked up together with external interface cables, or are tied together on card cages in a single package. The other trend is the development of low-cost dedicated instruments to do well only specific tasks at minimum cost.