FROM EDN EUROPE: Standard instruments cover multicarrier signal scenarios

For applications in multicarrier-power-amplifier design and for signal monitoring, radar, and satellite measurements, Agilent has introduced a spectrum analyser with 80-MHz demodulation bandwidth (Picture); the alternative, the company says, has been that design teams working in the cellular base-station or aerospace fields have to divert their attention to designing custom wideband test systems. The instrument, the PSA-80BW, also features capture memory of 8 sec, or 1.2 Gbytes, of data at full bandwidth and maximum capture rate. According to Agilent's Pat Byrne, general manager of the RF and microwave business unit, four-carrier W-CDMA signals or 16-carrier cdma2000 signals need more-than-60-MHz acquisition bandwidth and even more (66 MHz) for predistortion measurements on wireless-LAN access-point signals. The PSA-80BW comprises a vector-signal analyser and a spectrum analyser, plus software.

To generate complex waveforms for digital communications, you can use the Baseband Studio software/hardware product. Software modules include a fading function, allowing you to program an ESG vector-signal generator with single- and dual-channel fading scenarios, as well as letting you add calibrated noise. A further module sets up extremely long signal sequences by supporting the streaming of long waveform files direct from a PC-hard-disk drive into a vector-signal generator, masking any latency effects from reading the data from the drive. Part of the solution is a PCI card's carrying large Xilinx FPGAs, which you can configure to perform operations on the baseband signals, depending on the signal setup. The N5102A interface module uses a similar principle that provides customised I/Q or IF outputs, from signal generators to test systems, via configurable hardware.

Agilent has also extended its PNA millimetre-wave network analyser to cover 10 MHz to 110 GHz in a single sweep; it now provides dynamic range of 88 dB at 110 GHz and measurements at 200 µsec per point.

Agilent, +31 20 547 2111, www.agilent.com.