TEST & MEASUREMENT APPLICATION NOTES AND WHITE PAPERS

  • What Is Pulse Shaping?

    In this industry briefing,George Bollendorf explains a new approach to fix fidelity issues caused by the transmitting amplifier that matches input pulse signal shape, minimizes droop, overshoot, ringing, and rise and fall times.

  • Directivity And VSWR Measurements: Understanding Return Loss Measurements

    The characterization of microwave networks requires discriminating between forward and backward traveling waves. Unfortunately no directional device is perfect, leading to potentially dramatic measurement errors. In this note we show that return loss and VSWR measurements are greatly complicated by the finite performance of the directional device used to measure the reflected power.

  • Test Automotive Radar Interference Mitigation

    Automotive radar is crucial for achieving Net Zero targets in the automobile industry, and the R&S AREG800A radar echo generator is essential for testing sensor immunity to interference.

  • Design Of A Complete RF Downconverter Module For Test Equipment

     The example module and its constituent parts were designed and simulated with AWR Design Environment software using circuit- and system-level analyses. The integration of the downconverter within a mechanical outline influences the layout of the individual radio blocks.

  • Load Transient Response – Enhancing Loop Stability Testing

    Ensuring stability in power supply design requires validating switching converter stability through frequency loop and load transient responses, aided by modern oscilloscopes for visualizing PWM signals and identifying converter effects.

TEST & MEASUREMENT SOLUTIONS

Electrostatic discharge testing is utilized worldwide by electronics manufacturers to determine the ESD susceptibility of their devices. It is extremely difficult to estimate the exact cost of ESD loss annually, but it can safely be stated that ESD requires the development and testing of many hardware prototypes and contributes to a high number of warranty claims and loss of consumer confidence if failure occurs in the hands of the customer. Given the high cost in time and materials associated with ESD hardware testing, the ability to simulate the ESD testing process in XFdtd is extremely valuable, allowing engineers to pinpoint locations susceptible to ESD damage and optimize ESD mitigation during the concept and design stage of product development.

The series of GORE® VNA microwave/RF test assemblies from W.L. Gore are designed to provide the most precise VNA measurements in laboratory conditions, setting the standard for vector network analyzers (VNAs) through 70 GHz. These test assemblies deliver the highest accuracy and greatest time intervals between recalibrations for many applications, including those with vector network analyzers, critical measurements, and laboratory testing.

The dB-9004 is a custom-mounted Integrated Antenna Digital Control Unit (IADCU). It operates in the C, X and Ku-band frequency range and provides highly accurate RF output (FM, AM and pulse-shape modulated)

D-TA Systems offers the MFEL 1000 portable ELINT data collection solution designed to provide automatic spectrum scanning for signal activity (pulse or CW), PDW extraction and de-interleaving to tracks where signal characterization is performed automatically. The system includes a built-in 6 TB (expandable to 18 TB) SSD data storage for I/Q data collection in both on-site and off-site analysis.

The dB-9002 from dB Control is a custom-mounted Dual Instantaneous Frequency Measurement (DIFM) unit designed to operate in the C, X, and Ku-band frequency range and provide highly accurate measurements at 100 ns to CW pulse width measurements.

Holzworth’s multi-channel RF synthesizer architecture is a complete success story. These compact, 1U high, 19in rack mountable chassis can be configured with up to 8 independently tunable channels. All integrated channels are 100% phase coherent. Holzworth has designed the multi-channel platform for integration of our HSM Series Single Channel Synthesizers to maximize channel-to-channel stability via a conductively cooled, fan-less enclosure.

Qorvo offers the 1800 W, 65 V, 1.0 – 1.1 GHz QPD1025L as the highest GaN transistor on the market. This discrete GaN on SiC HEMT has a package that features input pre-match resulting in ease of external board match and saved board space.

Bird offers the FH-AV-KIT, a FlightHawk™ RF Aviation Test Kit designed for avionics testing and measurement applications. This kit includes a proven antenna and cable testing functionality of the FlightHawk handheld analyzer, all necessary adapters and cabling, and Bird’s aviation testing software that allows anyone on the maintenance team to test and verify all antenna systems in a fleet.