PECM Issue 67 2024 | Page 24

Customized testing solutions for mission critical power supply reliability

EDITOR ’ S CHOICE AUTOMATED TEST EQUIPMENT

AUTOTEST
Customized testing solutions for mission critical power supply reliability
In 1977 Mr . Robert Cox set out to build a test and measurement platform based upon some simple tenants . He produced the best automated test platform that could be designed . He knew the needs of the market based on his time at several companies that were struggling to automate testing on the manufacturing / production floor . He wanted to take advantage of the nascent personal computer business that was just starting to take hold . Mr . Cox knew if he could incorporate a microcomputer with a robust automated test platform , he would have a winner . With the help of his brother and father , Autotest was born . While the market has changed significantly over those 45 years the company has survived the dot . com bust , the offshoring of technology , the throw away switching power supply boom and in 2000 the telecom bust . proud and would like to share our successes in three areas .
APG testing software suite is a very user-friendly interface for building test procedures and recording the results . The program is now in its 35th year having started in DOS and moving into the Windows ® environment at the time Windows ® was initially introduced . After all those years , our intention is to keep it Easy-to-Use so routines can be built using simple blocks like user functions and modules to build extremely complex routines that interface with today ’ s new instruments . We continue to improve APG in a 32-bit environment and now onto the 64-bit with the latest supporting Windows 11 , just recently released to the field . APG allows for the use of OLDER hardware and / or add new hardware along with the latest peripherals without the need to completely re-write custom routines our customers have written for use on the floor . This saves our customers tens of thousands of dollars at upgrade time in porting time for the latest software .
45 + years later Autotest is still providing our customers automated testing platforms that now keeps our nation ’ s defense , healthcare , and consumer products up and running by testing them in high reliability test suites custom built for the customers we serve .
Over the years we have built systems for nearly every industry and niche , recently our business has been focused in two areas of high reliability power supply testing in aerospace and medical . We are proud to say we have shipped over 900 ATE Systems worldwide and can boast that some of the machines we continue to maintain have been in the field over 25 years and are still being upgraded , and test parts daily . We are extremely
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