Project Introduction: Many industrial applications, such as Environmental and Facility Monitoring Systems, leverage audio to improve performance. One of our clients is a major manufacturer of consumer electronics devices and they were looking to reduce the cost of their audio quality analysis system. Thus, they turned to Advantech to help them create a simple yet cost-effective solution to improve efficiency and increase production.

System Requirements: Our clients' in-house R&D team wanted to create a PC-based measurement and testing solution to analyze audio quality and hoped to reduce costs compared to traditional proprietary test stations. Their requirements included:

• Multiple analog input channels to test many products at the same time.
• A high gain interface for analyzing microphone signals.
• Multiple digital input/output channels to trigger the objects (electronic devices)
• GPIB card to communicate with instrument.

Project Implementation:

PCI-1710HG: 100 kS/s, 12-bit, 16-channel PCI Multifunctional Card with High Gain

System Description: The PCI-1710HG's digital output channels were used to trigger the electronic devices, which plays preloaded music. The PCI-1710HG's analog input channels were used to connect to the earphone port, which acquires audio signals from the electronic devices. The test application will verify the data to see if the conditions match or not. After that, the display will show the pass or fail information to the operator.

Conclusion: Compared to their previous solutions (proprietary test workstation), this new solution increased production by 50% (it can now test two electronics devices at the same time) and saved 29% on the test workstations cost. This solution can test all audio electronic devices with specific fixtures. Furthermore, the ease of operability allows their local R&D team to mange the system themselves, reducing maintenance costs.

The PCI-1710HG's advanced circuit design provides high quality with advanced functions, including the five most popular measurement and control functions: 12-bit A/D conversion, D/A conversion, digital input, digital output and counter/timer. The high gain design allowed this system to measure even small signals (+/- 0.005V) without any extra amplifier circuit.