Pin Map Contents

A test system typically consists of NI hardware with inputs and outputs that connect to a DUT (device under test). Pin maps describe the hardware, DUT, and connections present within your test system. This encoded description enables NI software to take measurements based on your physical system configuration. Refer to the section below for detailed descriptions of items commonly used in pin maps.

  • Instrument — software representation of equipment such as oscilloscopes, frequency generators, or digital multimeters. You must add each instrument used in the test system to the pin map.
    Note When using third-party equipment, you must add a custom instrument to your pin map.
  • Channel — Input or output connection point to a data acquisition system or to an instrument. For example, you would use a value between 0 and 7 to specify a single channel on a PXIe-5105 oscilloscope, which corresponds to the 8 available channels on this device.
  • Pin — Physical input or output of a device you are testing. There are two pin types to select from in the Pin Map Editor:
    • DUT pin — means one of the following:
      • A specific pin on the DUT (device under test).
      • A resource on the tester or DIB (device interface board) that connects to an instrument and is associated with one or more sites. A resource can have one connection per site or one connection per group of sites.
    • System pin — A resource on the tester or DIB that connects to an instrument. A system pin is a single connection associated with all sites.
  • Site — Physical location of a DUT. When testing multiple instances of the same DUT at multiple sites, you must use similar connections for each site.
    Note Sites are numbered automatically starting at 0. You cannot assign custom values to sites.
  • Connection — Pin map representation of the connection between an instrument channel and a pin on a site, or the connection between an instrument channel and a system pin.