4.2G-sample/sec AWG achieves both high resolution and high bandwidth
Dan Strassberg, Contributing Technical Editor -- EDN, April 22, 2010
Agilent Technologies has announced the 81180A AWG (arbitrary-waveform generator, a new generation of instrument that the company calls the first to offer both high bandwidth and high resolution. Until now, when selecting an AWG, you had to choose between bandwidth and signal quality. However, many of today’s applications, such as those in aerospace and defense, demand both high bandwidth and high signal quality. For example, to ensure measurement repeatability in such applications, wide bandwidth is not sufficient; your generator must also offer excellent dynamic range. Transferring large volumes of digital data at high speed also requires broadband modulation with wide dynamic range. With an output-rate range of 10M to 4.2G samples/sec, the 81180A achieves both 12-bit vertical resolution and bandwidth as great as 1.5 GHz.
Three levels of sequencing combine with a 64M-point memory to allow you to synthesize complex signals. The dynamic-control connector lets real-time applications control the waveform and allows external selection of sequences. The 81180A works with Agilent’s Performance vector signal generator for in-phase- and quadrature-system applications; provides maximum bandwidth and flatness for direct-RF applications to bandwidths as high as 1.5 GHz; and works in the time domain to provide waveforms that exhibit low overshoot and jitter despite rise and fall times as short as 600 psec, measured from 10 to 90% of the signal swing.
The unit features versatile signal generation, with broad, flat frequency response, low overshoot, and the signal quality necessary for testing complex devices. It also offers high-bandwidth signal generation with low harmonic distortion and flat response to ensure reliable measurements. It integrates with Agilent’s Signal Studio, The MathWorks’ Matlab, and National Instruments’ LabView software to provide a complete signal-generation approach and easy integration into the user’s environment. US prices for the Agilent 81180A AWG start at $46,500.
