Keysight Technologies' New PXIe Measurement Accelerator Boasts Up To 100x More Speed

New Capability Enables Industry Leading Digital Pre-distortion Loop Times for Power Amplifier Test

Santa Rosa, CA — Keysight Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: KEYS) announced on May 14 the M9451A PXIe Measurement Accelerator, a high-performance FPGA processing card, which speeds envelope tracking (ET), and digital pre-distortion (DPD) characterization for power amplifier tests. With the M9451A, engineers can make closed/open loop DPD and envelope tracking measurements in tens of milliseconds for up to a 100 times speed improvement.

The M9451A now is integrated with the RF PA/FEM Characterization and Test Reference Solution to provide even higher throughput while maintaining highly accurate S-parameter, harmonic distortion, power and demodulation measurements. The Reference Solution enables full characterization of next-generation power amplifier modules, such as a power amplifier-duplexer (PAD).

The DPD algorithms in the Reference Solution came from cooperation with wireless manufacturing customers, and from insights gained from Keysight’s SystemVue simulation and N7614B Signal Studio for Power Amplifier Test software applications. This makes Reference Solution the only solution capable of providing consistent measurements, from simulation to manufacturing, for next-generation power amplifier modules.

“We continue to make enhancements to our power amplifier Reference Solution to provide our customers with unrivaled technology and test performance,” said Mario Narduzzi, marketing manager of Keysight’s Software and Modular Solutions Division. “The M9451A shows what is possible when you combine the measurement expertise of Keysight with the high-speed data handling of PXIe and state-of-the-art, commercially available FPGAs.”

The Reference Solution’s open source test scripting example code facilitates rapid evaluation of power amplifier test configurations and reduces time to first measurement. With this new capability, engineers can improve device performance with DPD and ET while reducing test time.

Keysight’s PXI and AXIe modular products and Reference Solutions benefit from the company’s trusted measurement science and calibration expertise. This allows customers to count on consistent measurement results, from R&D through production, and realize accelerated design cycle time.

PADs are an increasingly popular alternative to more traditional power amplifier architecture because along with lower power consumption and greater efficiency and value, they allow device designers to save and optimize space by replacing multiple, discrete components with a single, compact module. PADs are also rapidly gaining in popularity with device designers because of the trend toward increasing band counts due to the implementation of new LTE networks.