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productivity.
Simplifying the User Experience
Instruments
with
touchscreen
interfaces aren’t just for novice or
infrequent users. Touchscreens allow
displaying results using larger, more
legible characters, provide more
details about the measurement, and
support on-screen data display and
analysis capabilities never before
available (Figures 5 and 6). The
flexibility to present data graphically
as well as numerically helps users
explore results in a way that goes
beyond the numbers. Because
touchscreen displays are software
defined, they are easily changed
to reflect the different controls and
indicators required for different
applications, freeing up valuable “real
estate” on the instrument’s front
panel.
Conclusion
As time-to-market pressures increase,
more and more users will demand
that their instrumentation deliver
more in-depth answers quickly and
without compromising measurement
integrity. Fortunately, instrument
vendors are coming to understand
that helping their customers do their
jobs with greater confidence is a
prerequisite to creating successful
products. To learn more about how
new interface designs are redefining
how users of all levels of experience
interact with their instruments, visit
touchtestinvent.com.Biographical Note
Jerry Janesch is a senior market
development manager at Keithley
Instruments,
headquartered
in
Cleveland, Ohio, which is part of
the Tektronix test and measurement
portfolio. He earned a bachelor’s
degree in electrical engineering from
Fenn College of Engineering and a
master’s of business administration
from John Carroll University. He has
been with Keithley since 2000.
Figure 4. The latest benchtop instruments combine intuitive touchscreen
operation with functions rarely found in a single instrument. For example,
Keithley’s Model DMM7510 graphical sampling multimeter integrates a
high speed digitizer that supports displaying and analyzing voltage and
current waveforms and transients precisely.
Figure 5. DMMs that combine built-in graphing
utilities and a large screen make it easier to
display and compare stored test results because
the users are no longer so dependent on an
external PC to analyze measurements.
Figure 6. Instruments with full graphical plotting windows
make it easy to convert raw data into useful information
easily and display it immediately. The touchscreen supports
“pinch and zoom” operation to allow examining data on the
graph in detail.
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