A new platform designed for in-fixture functional test has been launched as a joint venture by two T&M firms. The small form factor multi-vendor instrumentation platform consists of playing-card-sized modules that bring measurement, switching, power, communications, and I/O into production test fixtures through shared hardware interfaces and software tools. Nearly 40 commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) modules are available at launch.
Electronic Specifier met with Kyle Voosen, Testblox Product Manager at Pickering Interfaces, Johan Sandquist, CEO of Wireflow, and Keith Moore, CEO of Pickering Group ahead of the launch to find out more about the new instrumentation platform and company.
“Better test starts closer to the DUT,” explained Voosen. “Test engineers already embed instrumentation inside the fixture, so the appeal for Testblox is clear.” Current approaches force compromise, with test engineers either building custom hardware or combining USB instruments from multiple vendors, maker-grade modules like Raspberry Pi, and limited single vendor platforms such as NI’s TestScale or Pickering’s own SIMRC.
With Testblox, the fixture becomes the tester. No rack of instruments or extra floor space are required. The isolated modules reduce cabling and ground-loop risks. Shorter signal paths reduce resistance, noise, and connection uncertainty, improving signal integrity. Testers are easier to replicate and maintain, and fewer parts and modular replacement simplify build, fault isolation, and service.
Who is behind Testblox?
Testblox AB is a new test & measurement company, formed in 2025, focused on reducing the size, complexity, and cost of test through its new range of standardized, in-fixture COTS instrumentation for automated functional test. Testblox modules share a compact, playing-card-sized form factor, common interfaces, and a coordinated software workflow.
Testblox AB has been formed by Pickering Interfaces, a UK T&M firm that designs and manufactures modular signal switching and simulation tools for use in electronic test and verification, and Wireflow, a Swedish developer, integrator, and manufacturer of PCB test solutions. This approach follows the strategy laid out for disruptive technologies in Harvard professor, Clayton Christensen’s 1997 book, “The Innovator’s Dilemma”.
The Testblox multi-vendor solution draws upon three specialist engineering teams that are contributing to one common Testblox platform: Testblox AB has developed backplanes, software, and selected I/O; Wireflow has delivered multifunction I/O and power supplies; and Pickering has provided switching and digital multimeters. All Testblox modules are designed and manufactured in Europe. Typical cost for a single module is under $500.
Both the architecture and commercial model are designed to support broader qualified participation from other vendors over time. Moore expects this ecosystem to be attractive for other T&M integrators who currently develop their own specialised custom in-fixture instrumentation hardware, allowing them to standardise on a platform that is well defined and maintained for interoperability.
What is Testblox? The fixture is the ATE
“Test engineers have wanted to bring instrumentation into the test fixture for years. Until now, the right tools haven’t been available together in a full-featured, platform combining compact instrumentation, tight integration, simple mechanics, and unified software,” explains Bo Ohrwall, CEO of Testblox AB. “Testblox brings all the pieces together, making in-fixture automated test a practical option for many test teams.”
Sandquist, CEO of Wireflow adds: “Wireflow has enormous expertise in PCB test, where repeatable results and reliable, long-term operation are essential. We formed Testblox with Pickering to bring together our test system expertise with Pickering’s product design capabilities to deliver a unified platform for in-fixture functional test. It’s a strong foundation, providing test engineers with a ready-to-use, production-ready platform without compromises.”
Testblox modules can be wired directly to exposed pins within the test fixture using standard D-Sub connectors, or can be slotted into a custom interface board, enabling direct, wire-free DUT (Device Under Test) interfacing. Module-to-backplane isolation helps reduce ground loops. Test engineers can discover, configure, troubleshoot, and monitor test systems over USB using Brygga (a Swedish word meaning bridge, dock, or pier), the Testblox test management environment. To automate tests, APIs are available for Python, C# and NI LabVIEW.
Nearly 40 Testblox modules are available at launch, including a DMM, multiplexers, matrix switches, relays, DUT communication, multifunction, digital, and analog I/O, a programmable PSU, and backplanes. Sandquist is confident that these 40 modules cover around 80% of use cases Wireflow currently see when building functional test systems. And Testblox expects the number of modules to double in the first year.
The modules are designed in Sweden, the Czech Republic and the UK, and manufactured cost-effectively in the Czech Republic. All Testblox modules carry a three-year warranty along with a commitment to keep hardware available for at least 20 years.
