Isolation Switching

Isolation switching is incorporated in particular models for a variety of reasons:

• Reducing capacitive loading on a node. In low-frequency units, reduced capacitive loading gives faster response times when medium to high impedance signals are being carried.

• Reducing circuit leakage current. Reduced leakage current in the switch circuits is advantageous where low-current measurements are involved.

• Reducing the length of circuit stubs on a node. In high-frequency units, reduced stub lengths give better RF performance.

• Providing alternate switching functionality. Some versatile models utilise isolation switching to support additional operating modes.

Automatic isolation switching

Isolation and loopthru switches are normally controlled automatically by the pipx40 driver, and their operation is entirely transparent to the user.

In some applications or for fault diagnostic purposes it may be desirable to control isolation and loopthru switches independently. There are two ways of achieving this:

1. In matrix types having auto-isolation and/or auto-loopthru, function pipx40_operateSwitch permits explicit control of individual switches.

2. Cards can usually be reconfigured to allow independent control of isolation or loopthru switches using the ordinary control functions - if you have such a requirement please contact support@pickeringtest.com.