  A digital instrument that allows the measurement of the mechanical tension of
an array of wires of known length and density, and the testing of their
electrical continuity and isolation, has been developed. The instrument
measures wire tension by measuring the fundamental frequency of the wire. Its
working principle is to apply direct high voltages on neighboring wires of a
wire under test and sweeping the frequency of an alternating high voltage that
is also applied on those neighbors. A resonance is observed in the readout
signal of the middle wire when the frequency of the alternating high voltage
coincides with its fundamental frequency. The instrument automates the process
over 128 wires, with eight read out simultaneously. An accuracy of 1% in the
measurement of tension is achieved by this digital wire analyzer (DWA).
