PXI modules target RF-communications test

Although a few companies have already introduced RF-test modules in the 3U Eurocard PXI format, Aeroflex says that the four new units in its PXI 3000 series and four accompanying software packages represent the format's first real RF capability (Picture). Whereas you may not recognize Aeroflex in this context, the diversified, 66-year-old, Plainview, NY-based electronics manufacturer lays claim to a venerable tradition in RF test, thanks to its acquisition of Wichita, KS-based IFR systems, which had previously merged with Marconi Instruments of the United Kingdom.

The PXI modules are the $4000, single-slot, 3-GHz 3010 RF synthesizer; the $7000, two-slot, 2.5-GHz 3020 digital-RF signal generator; the $11,000, two-slot 3030 RF digitizer; and the $2500 single-slot, 300-MHz to 2.5-GHz, four-port 3060 RF combiner. The modules work with the $3500 GSM (Global System for Mobile communications)/Edge (Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution) software-measurement suite, the $3500 UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) software-measurement suite, the $2000 IQ (in-phase/quadrature) Creator waveform-creation tool, and the $1500 VSS (vector-signal-simulator) waveform-creation tool.

Aeroflex calls the 3010 the first high-performance PXI-based synthesizer with a frequency range of 1.5 to 3 GHz. You can use the unit, which provides 1-Hz resolution, phase noise of –120 dBc/Hz, and typical frequency-settling time of 200 µsec, as a stand-alone frequency synthesizer, as the core synthesizer for the 3020, or in combination with the 3030 as a downconverter for signals in any 15-MHz bandwidth between 330 MHz and 3 GHz. The 3020 produces 15-MHz-bandwidth, IQ-modulated, or continuous-wave signals from 250 MHz to 2.5 GHz. The 3030 produces a set of amplitude- and phase-corrected digital-IF or IQ-data samples having typical amplitude errors of less than 0.5 dB.

Aeroflex Test Solutions, 1-316-522-4981, www.aeroflex.com.