Aeroflex launches S-series digital signal generators and vector signal analysers
The new signal generators use Aeroflex’s PXI technology and are part of the mid-range half-rack 4U S-Series family that was launched a year ago with the SGA analogue RF signal generators.
The SGD-3 and SGD-6 both feature +13 dBm output power, with a +20 dBm option. They incorporate an IQ modulator with 300 MHz RF bandwidth, which can generate wide bandwidth modulated signals. A dual channel arbitrary waveform generator (AWG) operating at up to 250 MS/s has memory options up to 4GBytes.
An embedded waveform generation tool enables the user to set up a modulation scheme and create an AWG file using modulation templates.
The SGD has low single sideband (SSB) phase noise of -135dBc/Hz at 1GHz offset, and a fast frequency settling time of 100μs, enabling accurate receiver testing with a significant reduction in measurement time and cost. The high dynamic range of the IQ modulators provides for an Adjacent Channel Leakage Ratio (ACLR) of -71 dBc on WCDMA signals, enabling the user to design and test amplifier performance to higher specifications.
“With these latest additions, the S-Series has matured into a truly integrated benchtop measurement system, with the facility to link different instruments both electronically and mechanically using Aerolock,” said Hiren Joshi, product manager at Aeroflex Test Systems. “Using the instruments together with the embedded software tools gives the user the capability to accurately generate and analyze complex wideband modulated signals to test systems and components for a wide range of applications, including mobile communications, defense, and aerospace. The SGD and SVA support generic modulation and demodulation capabilities respectively, which also makes them ideal for general purpose RF test applications.”
The extended frequency range for the vector analysers – 6GHz for the SVA-6 and up to 13 GHz for the SVA-13 – allows the instrument to be used for analysing second harmonic performance of signals in popular communications bands. A wide maximum instantaneous bandwidth up to 90MHz makes it suitable for measuring and analyzing both narrow- and wide-bandwidth communication systems.
Peak signal power levels up +30dBm can be input directly to the instrument. With a maximum sensitivity of -148dBm/Hz, very low level signals can easily be discriminated from noise when measuring transmitter spurious outputs.
A wide range of measurement suite options are available for wireless communications test, including most 2G, 3G, 4G, WMAN, WPAN, WLAN and LTE standards, providing measurement of power, modulation quality, and spectrum parameters to the relevant standards for mobile terminal testing both in the laboratory and in production. The noise floor at 2 GHz is -138 dBc/Hz at 10 MHz offset, and, frequency settling can be achieved in 250 μs at frequencies up to 6 GHz, which makes the SVA ideal for high productivity RFIC testing.
The SVA can be synchronized and used in conjunction with either the SGD signal generator or other S-Series modules to reduce test setup space and offer a simple, integrated measurement technique.
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